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 rise was a Civil Rights Campaign to challenge the segregated laws in interstate travel across the south. The freedom rides again with two groups of integrated people, blacks and whites, leaving on Greyhound Buses traveling through the deep south to test whether the facilities and the modes of transportation work, and were compliant with the recent Supreme Court ruling in which the Supreme Court outlaws segregation in interstate travel. 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 impaired as they left washington, d. C. And traveled through the upper south, virginia, north carolina, they really didnt run into much resistance. There were a few glares, but nothing serious. As the group entered into the deeper south, into South Carolina, rock hills 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 raquel, South Carolina, and proceeded into the station to test the ruling, there were white segregationists that were there and they attacked the freedom riders several were injured. They were able to continue the ride. As a traveled into 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 have reported to him that there would be violence waiting for the freedom ride andr alabama. Sthe group was aware of his concerns but could it but decided to continue anyway. There were two groups of travelers, integrated groups on a Greyhound Bus and h railway. The bus traveled an hour apart. 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 they tried to phone for help, the mob attacked the bus again. Someone in the mob through 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 model continue to attack them further. The deal from the Police Officers was that they would have 15 minutes to attack the freedom rider before Law Enforcement would intervene. In the meantime, the trailways bus arrives in anniston an hour later. They dont know until they arrived at 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 confident 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. There were negotiations and discussions among the students and nationals 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 worked out is that the buses would be protected with state police from the Birmingham City limits to the Montgomery City limits. 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 in birmingham left may 20, 1961, a saturday morning. Everything was going according to plan until the bus arrived in the city of montgomery. Then the state police field 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 the, that there were not many people around. There are not many people on the street. As the bus pulled in, the freedomrider were beginnings 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 ascended on these students. First, they attacked the photographers and journalists, smashing their cameras. Some of them were 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. He was an Exchange Student at the time from wisconsin. He and congressman lewis were the first to offer 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 he was attacked, the crowd turned to commerce and lewis. He was hit with a cocacola crate. That is the last thing he remembered. A were both beaten unconscious. Others caught up in this attack were the assistant to attorney general Robert F Kennedy. His name was john c installer. 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 mr. , he went to the federal 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. The civil rights leaders came to hold a mass meeting with the citizens of the city of mogomery to support the freedom riders. They held that meeting at this church. This was the church or reverend 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 attack to 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. A black pharmacist to have been involved on the bus boycott, he had provided some transportation coordination for the bus boycott. In his home, the freedom rider were given safe haven. S the other decision was at the rise would continue. The next stop would be jackson, mississippi. On may 24, 1961, two busloads of freedom writers freedom riders left montgomery on the trailways bus. When the freedom riders arrived in jackson mississippi, they did try to integrate the facilities there and were arrested. They were all charged with breach of peace. And many of them serve between 30 to 40 days in jail. Over 300 riders were arrested and served time in jackson, mississippi. The riders never arrive to their destination in new orleans during 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 peoples lives that not change. They still suffered some of the situations they had before 1955. It is after the student citizens and the freedom riders and 1961, when the sides of segregation start to come down. It was 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 city tour staff travel to montgomery, alabama to learn about its risk history. Www. Cspan. Org. Youre watching American History tv on cspan3. Monday night, a look at the plan to include Broadband Internet access. Expected to take up the proposal at the end of march. We will talk with the policy scholar. And a visiting were joined by the National Journal technology reporter. We need access to broadband now. Its unclear to me that congress this. Be able to pass the congress has not been particularly supportive of a folks who were in poverty. Essentially the fcc is putting the cart before the horse. These are the drivers keeping low income people from adopting broadcast services. Nine dollars a month for 10 million people, you want to be sure you are deploying the money effectively and the fcc has not done that. March the communicators ern, onnight at 8 00 east cspan2. Announcer coming up next, bob woodward reflects on abraham lincolns legacy and how it has