Freedom Riders

Cultural  

1. A group of northern idealists active in the civil rights movement. The Freedom Riders, who included both blacks and whites, rode buses into the South in the early 1960s in order to challenge racial segregation. Freedom Riders were regularly attacked by mobs of angry whites and received often belated protection from federal officers.

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Freedom Riders

Let’s take an example of a park like Freedom Riders.

From Slate ● Aug. 13, 2025

In Washington, the Freedom Riders had become an embarrassment to the Kennedy administration, which was being criticized in the European press for allowing the brutal attacks to happen.

From New York Times ● Jul. 21, 2023

He supported the Freedom Riders, who travelled on buses in the Southern states challenging racial discrimination, and he idolised Martin Luther King.

From BBC ● Apr. 25, 2023

Only 21 when he became one of the original 13 Freedom Riders in 1961, Lewis lived to see the ravages of the Shelby ruling firsthand.

From Salon ● Nov. 3, 2022

Freedom Riders stood out among the crowd, trying to bring an end to segregation between whites and blacks by traveling from Washington, D.C., to New Orleans.

From "The Freedom Writers Diary" by The Freedom Writers