Honoring the 50th Anniversary of Freedom Riders

* Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to honor the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Riders and their incredibly courageous acts of resistance during the summer of 1961, when civil rights leaders launched the Freedom Rides to challenge the Jim Crow laws that upheld the segregated interstate bus systems.

* Indeed, I am privileged to serve with two of my esteemed colleagues, Representative John Lewis and Representative Bob Filner, Freedom Riders who blazed the trail in order that I might have the distinct honor to serve as the highest-ranking African American elected official in the state of Mississippi--an opportunity that would not have been possible without the personal sacrifices of the Freedom Riders in their quest for racial justice in this country.

* The Freedom Rides, an organized effort initiated by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), was a significant moment during the Civil Rights Movement, as young students were greeted with violent racial discrimination as they traveled from Washington, DC throughout the Jim Crow South to test the Supreme Court's ruling in Boynton v. Virginia (1960), which declared segregation in interstate bus and rail stations unconstitutional. Freedom Riders faced violent opposition and garnered broad media attention, which eventually forced Federal intervention from the Kennedy administration.

* The first Freedom Ride took place on May 4, 1961 when seven blacks and six whites left Washington, D.C., on two public buses bound for the Deep South. The Freedom Riders made it through Virginia and North Carolina without incident, but as they made it to Rock Hill, South Carolina, the Freedom Riders encountered violence and faced more resistance as they traveled further into the ``Deep South.''

* The ride continued to Anniston, Alabama, where on May 14th they were met by a violent mob of over 100 people. Before their arrival, Anniston local authorities had given permission to the Ku Klux Klan to strike against the Freedom Riders without fear of arrest.

* CORE leaders decided that letting violence end the trip would send the wrong signal to the country. On May 17, 1961, SNCC and the Nashville Student Movement rode from Nashville to Birmingham to resume the Freedom Rides.

* On May 29th, the Kennedy administration announced that it had directed the Interstate Commerce Commission to ban segregation in all facilities under its jurisdiction, but the rides continued as students from all over the country purchased bus tickets to the South and crowded into Mississippi jails. The Freedom Rides inspired sit-ins in public facilities and businesses across the South.

* Today, collectively, we must be ``Change Agents'' and continue to pursue the struggle for human, civil, and equal rights which are the legacy and spirit of the Freedom Riders and all of the brave men and women who made personal sacrifices during the Civil Rights Movement for justice and equality for all mankind.

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