12/5/2023 0 Comments Freedom riders![]() Peck, trying to avoid a last-minute panic, relayed Shuttlesworth's warning to the group in a calm and matter-of-fact fashion. Shuttlesworth was not privy to FBI surveillance and did not know any of the details, but he urged Peck to be careful. The city was alive with rumors that a white mob planned to greet the Riders at the downtown bus stations. When Peck phoned Fred Shuttlesworth, the outspoken pastor of Birmingham's Bethel Baptist Church and the leader of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, to give him the exact arrival times of the two "Freedom Buses," the normally unflappable minister offered an alarming picture of what the Freedom Riders could expect once they reached Birmingham. Now Peck had to go on alone, perhaps to glory, but more likely to an untimely rendezvous with violence, or even death. They had been through a lot together - surviving the depths of the Cold War and CORE's lean years, not to mention the first ten days of the Freedom Ride. As Farmer left for the Atlanta airport, Peck could not help wondering if he would ever see his old friend again. Jim Farmer's unexpected departure placed a heavy burden on Jim Peck, who suddenly found himself in charge of the Freedom Ride. We had most trouble, it turned into a struggle,Īnd that 'hound broke down, and left us all stranded, His previous writing includes Land of Sunshine,State of Dreams: A Social History of Modern Florida and Crucible of Liberty: 200 Years of the Bill of Rights, which he edited. His narrative touches on elements from the jails of Alabama to the Kennedy White House.Īrsenault is the John Hope Franklin Professor of Southern History and co-director of the Florida Studies Program at the University of South Florida in St. ![]() In Freedom Riders, Arsenault details how the first Freedom Rides developed, from the personal level to the legal maneuvering involved. ![]()
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