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.

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Example Sentences

And we have Martin Luther King, and we have Rosa Parks, and we have the Freedom Riders.

From Slate • May 31, 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

He went to Mississippi in 1961 to lend support to the Freedom Riders protesting segregation and participated in the March on Washington for civil rights in 1963.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 31, 2022

Just when we were about to leave that idea alone, someone said, “That would make it even better because that’s where the Freedom Riders started their mission.”

From "The Freedom Writers Diary" by The Freedom Writers