March: Book Two

On May 20th, 1961, the Freedom Rides resume. Outside Montgomery, Alabama, a white mob attacks the bus and the news media who come to record their actions. The Riders try to flee in cabs, but the cab drivers won’t drive integrated groups. A federal agent tries to intervene, but the mob attacks him. The mob is calling for the deaths of the Riders and their allies. 

Floyd Mann, Alabama’s Public Safety Director, fires a gunshot into the air to stop the mob and threatens to kill anyone who continues the attack. On pages 80-81, there is a two-page spread of Aretha Franklin singing “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” at Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009. Interspersed on this spread are smaller pictures of the aftermath of the racial violence outside Montgomery in 1961.

On May 21st, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. flies to Montgomery in the aftermath of the violence at the bus station. The Riders gather in the First Baptist Church, while a white mob gathers outside. Dr. King talks on the phone with Robert Kennedy, who says he is sending federal marshals and asks the Freedom Riders to take a brief break. King takes the suggestion to Farmer, Nash, and Lewis, who are resolved to continue.