stick to the jobs, until that day women and has come to the devastation of the earth. again may safely go down to the sea, that day when peter has come to all lands. and especially to the land where stands the finest warrior, the greatest woman of them all. ♪ announcer: this year, c-span is touring cities across the country, exploring american history. look at our recent visit to montgomery, alabama. you're watching american history tv, all weekend and every weekend, on seas and three. -- on c-span three. dorothy: if you think about the timeline of a modern-day civil rights movement, the beginning of that movement being 1954,

brown versus board of education, and the apex of the movement being the assassination of dr. king in 1968, the freedom ride is right in the middle of that history. it was the halfway point for those events. what happened here on the streets of montgomery really became a turning point for the movement. the freedom ride was a civil rights campaign to challenge the segregated laws in interstate travel across the south. in 1961dom rides began with two groups of integrated people, blacks and whites, leaving on greyhound buses and trailways buses traveling through the deep south to test whether the facilities and the modes of transportation work. complying with the recent supreme court ruling in which the supreme court outlaws segregation in interstate travel. the plan was that the groups

that left washington, d.c. on may 4, 1961 would travel through the deep south. and would arrive in new orleans on may 17, 1961, which would be the seventh anniversary of the brown versus board of education. as they left washington, d.c. and traveled through the upper south, virginia, north carolina, they really didn't run into much resistance. there were a few glares, but nothing serious. as the group entered into the deeper south, into south carolina, rock hill specifically, that is when they first encountered violence and were attacked. part of the plan for the freedom ride was they would test the ruling by going in and using facilities that were segregated. so, black passengers would use the white facilities, and white passengers would use the black facilities. as they got off the bus in rock hill, south carolina and proceeded into the station to test the ruling, there were white segregationists that were there.

and they attacked the freedom riders. and several were injured. they were able to continue the ride. and as they traveled throughout south carolina and georgia, there were other skirmishes. in atlanta, the group was able to meet with dr. martin luther king, jr., who was, at that time, president of the southern christian leadership conference. and dr. king voiced some concerns about the group continuing the ride into alabama. there were some sources that had reported to him that there would be violence waiting for the freedom riders in alabama. the group was aware of his concerns, but decided to continue anyway. the group left atlanta on may 14, 1961. and there were two groups of travelers, integrated groups on a greyhound bus and h railway. the bus traveled an hour apart.

when the bus arrived in anderson, there was a mob waiting for the bus. they attacked the bus. they broke at windows. they rocked the bus, to try to turn it over. however, the bus was able to pull away from the station, but not before the tires were slashed on the bus. when the bus pulled over to try to phone for help, the mob attacked the bus again. someone in the mob threw a molotov cocktail into the bus. the bus filled with smoke and fumes. as the freedom riders tried to get off the bus, there were members of the mob, who held the doors on the outside of us, so that the riders get off the bus. once they got off the bus, they were at the mercy of this mob, who then proceeded to attack them further. the deal from local law enforcement was that they would have 15 minutes to attack the freedom riders, before law enforcement would intervene. after about the 15 minute point, a local law enforcement pulled his weapon and shot.

in the meantime, the trailways bus arrives in anderson an hour later. and they don't know, until they arrived, that the greyhound bus has already been attacked. but the interesting thing about the trailways bus, unlike the greyhound bus, several of the segregationists had gotten on the bus in atlanta. and were riding the bus from atlanta to anniston. they had not only taunted and harassed the freedom riders on the journey from atlanta, but they had also beaten several of the freedom riders while on the bus. eventually, the trailways bus was able to travel on to birmingham, where yet another mob formed and was there waiting for the bus to arrive. while all of this was going on, there was a group of students, college students in nashville, that were part of the national student movement that had been working to desegregate lunch counters in the downtown area for over a year. the students were monitoring and

seeing what was happening. so, there were negotiations and discussions among the students in nashville to come to birmingham, to continue the ride. that is where all of the freedom riders reconvened, in birmingham. once they arrived, they convened with the state government to provide protection, with the students leaving birmingham and coming to montgomery. the deal that is worked out is that the buses would be protected with state police, from the birmingham city limits to the montgomery city limits. and then, the montgomery city police would pick up the bus and protect the bus, as it arrived in montgomery at the bus station. the bus with the freedom riders on it in birmingham left may 20, 1961, a saturday morning. everything was going according to plan, until the bus arrived in the city of montgomery. and then, the state police peeled off, and the city police did not pick up the bus to

escort the bus to the montgomery bus station. it took about 15 minutes for the bus to arrive here, at the montgomery greyhound bus station. the bus pulled into the station. and several of the freedom riders remarked that it was in eerie, that there were not many people around. there are not many people on the street. as the bus pulled in, the freedom riders were beginning to get off the bus. several photographers and journalists were waiting to interview the students. as they got off the bus and started their interviews, then a crowd formed. they came from behind buildings, out of cars, from across the street. they came from everywhere and descended on these students. first, they attacked the photographers and journalists, smashing their cameras. some of them were actually even beaten with their own equipment, as part of the attack. but after the attack to the journalists, they turned on the freedom riders. there were 21 students on the bus from birmingham to montgomery. none of them were over the age

of 23. they were black and white. as they were being attacked, congressman lewis suggested to the students in the middle of all of this that they stand together. and try to huddle together, and not get separated. two of the people that were most badly beaten were the lone white male on the bus. his name is jim. he was an exchange student at the time from wisconsin. he and congressman lewis were the first to get off the bus. the crowd that formed had all manner of weapons with which to attack these students with. there were bats and chains, and pipes and crates, and just any manner of weaponry that you could think of to attack the students. after jim was attacked, the

crowd turned to congressman lewis. he was hit with a coca-cola crate. that is the last thing he remembered, as they were both beaten unconscious. others caught up in this attack were the assistant to attorney general, robert f. kennedy. siegenthaller.as he came upon the scene, as the students were being attacked, and tried to intervene. he announced himself as a federal official, and someone proceeded to hit him over the head with a metal pipe and attack him. after what happened with income of the other official with the justice department on the scene that day went to go find judge johnston, a federal judge. judge to ask for an injunction. judge johnson issued an injunction, keeping the klan from intervening anymore with

the freedom riders. but he also issued an injunction to prevent the freedom riders to continue, at the same time. so the day after the events that happened here at the montgomery bus station, the civil rights leaders came to hold a mass meeting with the citizens of the city of montgomery to support the freedom riders. they held that meeting at this first baptist church. this was a church of reverend ralph abernathy. while they were at the church, there were 1500 people inside the church. and the mob outside, they came to protest, was a group of about 3000 people. they attacked the church. they would throw rocks at the church. they turned over cars outside the church. they threw molotov cocktails at the walls of the exterior of the church. dr. king and other civil rights leaders inside the church reached out to attorney general robert f. kennedy and asked him to send in federal troops. instead of the federal troops coming, the state brought in the national guard. once they were taken from the church, they were taken to the

home of dr. richard harris. dr. harris was a black pharmacist who had also been involved on the bus boycott, he had provided some transportation coordination for the bus boycott. in his home, the freedom riders were given safe haven. the ultimate decision was that the ride would continue. the next stop for the ride from montgomery would be jackson, mississippi. on may 24, 1961, two busloads of freedom riders left montgomery on the trailways bus. when the freedom riders arrived in jackson, mississippi, they did try to integrate the segregated facilities there and were arrested. they were all charged with breach of peace. and many of them served between 30-40 days in jail. over 300 riders were arrested and served time in jackson, mississippi.

which meant that the riders never arrived to their destination in new orleans. even after all the activism and all the work that people like rosa parks and dr. martin luther king had done in 1955 desegregating the city of montgomery, most people's lives had not changed. from day to day they still suffered some of the situations they had before 1955. it was after the student sit ends and the freedom riders in 1961 when the sides of segregation start to come down. and it was at that point when they ruled that all of these interstate facilities had to integrate. it is really when you first saw the visual changes in the landscape that segregation was on its deathbed.

>> our tour staff recently traveled to montgomery, alabama to learn the rich history. learn more at c-span.org. you are watching american history tv, all weekend and every weekend on c-span3. >> up next on american history tv, an historian on interpreting the u.s. constitution. he is the author of several nalks, including "origi meanings." this lecture is hosted by the georgetown university law center is about one hour and 15 minutes. >> is a privilege for me every year to be able to introduce the lecturer. but it is particular honored to be able to introduce jack, the co-professor -- h