On Mother’s Day, May 14, 1961, an interracial group of Freedom Riders riding buses through the South was attacked and firebombed by an angry white mob outside of Anniston, Alabama.

AceHistoryDesk – Today in History – On Mother’s Day, May 14, 1961, Jamestown: It all began when C.O.R.E. (Congress of Racial Equality) started a bus journey, Freedom Ride”, from Washington, D.C., to New Orleans to challenge the current laws following the Supreme Court’s 1960 decision in Boynton v. Virginia, that made segregation in interstate travel facilities unconstitutional.

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The Freedom Riders traveled by Greyhound and Trailways buses throughout the South.

Passengers on the Greyhound bus that stopped in Anniston were Freedom Riders Genevieve Hughes, Al Bigelow, Hank Thomas, Jimmy McDonald, Mae Frances Moultrie, Joe Perkins, and Ed Blankenheim; journalists Charlotte Devree and Moses Newson; and two undercover officers from the Alabama Highway Patrol, E.L. Cowling and Harry Sims.

When it arrived at the Greyhound station in Anniston, Alabama, the bus was met by an angry white mob of approximately 150 to 200 people who attacked it with bats, pipes, and other implements.

When the bus left the station, much of the mob followed it and slashed its tires, forcing it to the side of the road. They then rocked the bus and used chains, sticks, and iron rods to break the windows, and while some forced the exit door shut, one individual threw a firebomb inside. When fire reached the fuel tank, the back of the bus exploded.

After the Freedom Riders and members of the media escaped the bus, some of the riders were beaten.

Those suffering from smoke inhalation, burns, and bodily harm were taken by ambulance to Anniston Memorial Hospital. This was a segregated hospital that wanted to separate the Freedom Riders for their treatments. Soon another white mob threatened the hospital, then the hospital released the injured riders.

Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, one of Alabama’s Civil Rights leaders, sent two of his representatives, Colonel Stone Johnson and Will Hall, along with a 15-car caravan of armed black men to rescue, protect and take the Freedom Riders to another hospital for care.

An hour later, a second bus of Freedom Riders arrived at the Trailways bus station in Anniston.

A group of white men boarded the bus to beat and force the black Freedom Riders to the back of the bus. Once these angry white men left the bus, the driver was able to drive away and take back roads to Birmingham, Alabama. There the Riders were met with another angry white mob that attacked them as they exited the bus. Again, Fred Shuttlesworth and a group of black armed guards came to protect and take the Freedom Riders to safety.

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