American Experience: Freedom Riders

Photo: In Anniston, Alabama, an angry mob stoned and firebombed the Greyhound bus holding some of the original Freedom Riders.

Credit: Courtesy of Corbis

From May until November 1961, more than 400 black and white Americans risked their lives by simply traveling together on buses and trains as they journeyed through the Deep South.

WXXI honors Black History Month with the American Experience film Freedom Riders on Monday, February 25, 2013 at 7 p.m. on WXXI World (DT21.2/cable 524). From award-winning filmmaker Stanley Nelson, Freedom Riders tells the powerful, harrowing and ultimately inspirational story of six months in 1961 that changed America forever. Deliberately violating Jim Crow laws, the Freedom Riders’ belief in non-violent activism was sorely tested as mob violence and bitter racism greeted them along the way. Freedom Riders features testimony from a fascinating cast of central characters: the Riders themselves, state and federal government officials, and journalists who witnessed the rides firsthand.