The freedom riders were a response to a law that had been passed.

So in 1961, a northern
group of civil rights activists called Core, the Congress of Racial Equality. Tested this law by
getting different people of different ages, races, educational and economic backgrounds, and
religions to come together to sit side by side on interstate buses from Washington, DC to all the
way to the South. They would go in groups and walk, violating the precept of Jim Crow and
people wouldn’t bother them. In the South, the group intercountered hostile, violent, and angry
mobs. And so they had to get out of there. Diana Nash who led the Nashvillie sit-ins heard
about the trouble that the Freedom Riders had encountered and didn’t want the movement to be
seen as a failure so she repeated the model of Core. But they encountered hostility again in
Alabama. Many were hurt and the local African-American church had a meeting to bring
attention to the problem. And a mob of thousands surrounds the church and threatens to set the
church on fire. So Dr.King calls for help from the Attorney General. And got help which was a
good situation for them because it showed that the government supported the Civil right
movement. On the second round in Jackson, Mississippi, they got thrown in jail but that didn't
discourage them. They practiced non-violence in the jails when the guards were violent towards
them and became models to people in jail who weren’t a part of the movement. And in the end
the Attorney General was able to change the laws and interstate travel was segregated because
of the Freedom Rides.

John Salter challenged his students to think about social problems that we have to contend with.
In Woolworth they decided to do a sit-in. Tougaloo students were going to sit at the counter and
planned out a diversionary that would divert the police attention while people got seated. They
were going to be a decoy, and it became the most photographed sit-in in the history of sit-in
movement.Lois Chaffee and the lady in the video were going to be spotters for the picket line.
They would call back to Medgar Evers office and give a report once in a while. But the picket
line got arrested quickly and they decided to check what was happening. And they went down
to sit down but got drugs up to the front of the store. Memphis Norman got hurt badly and
Medgar questioned if they should call it off. But they were committed to staying. And many of
the people who saw the photograph want to volunteer. And this was done by regular people
which motivated many people to lead changes happening.