The Anniston Star Friday, May 14, 2021 Page 2 Friday, May 14, 2021 The Anniston Star

Trent Penny/The Anniston StarHank Thomas: One of the The mural of the Greyhound bus can be seen at the Freedom Riders National Monument. Anniston’s place in civil rights original Freedom Riders By Sherry Kughn

At about 1 p.m. on Sunday, May 14, 1961, 19-year-old history and memory student Henry “Hank” Thomas came into Anniston with 17 other passengers on a Greyhound bus. He remembers By Jennifer Gross, PhD In 2007, a historical marker was erected courthouse lawns and town squares. the median on Quintard Avenue. Today, all the tension he felt as he rode through at the site of the bus burning. Shortly These monuments tell a story. that remains is a concrete pad. town with the group, seven of whom I recently had the pleasure of talking thereafter, several city notables, white It is not a story of the wartime heroism So why does it matter that the were Freedom Riders on his bus, and with Ray Arsenault, the author of the and black, began an effort to publicly of Confederate soldiers as many modern Confederate monument is gone and the representatives of the Congress on Racial ground-breaking work “Freedom Riders: acknowledge the role Anniston played in supporters claim. It is a story of white national monument to the Freedom Rides Equality (CORE). Already, they had 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice.” the Freedom Rides, capitalizing on some supremacy and the effort to maintain it is in place? It matters because monuments encountered resistance in other states and Our conversation ranged from small talk of the historical tourism money being after slavery was abolished. The prominent tell us more about the people who erect knew that the Klan members in about our families, Ray’s recent retirement raked in by other Southern cities like placement of the monuments in these them than they do about the historical might do more than only resist. as the John Hope Franklin Professor of Birmingham and Montgomery where the public spaces was an effort to convey that event or person they are supposedly meant The blacks and sympathetic white History at the University of South Florida movement and the violent reaction to it message to one segment of the Southern to commemorate. The Southerners who Riders on the Greyhound bus had left to the 60th anniversary of the Freedom had played out. These efforts produced population specifically, Black Americans. erected the Confederate obelisk hoped Washington, D.C. several days prior to Rides and the national monument site in the murals and In recent to tell and reinforce a story of a white arriving in Anniston. Their goal was to test the old Greyhound bus station on Gurnee culminated years, growing South in which Black Americans were the rights of blacks to travel on Interstate Avenue. in the 2017 numbers of second-class citizens. The Southerners Highways, rights affirmed by two Supreme Ray and I first met a decade ago as part designation of “We haven’t achieved Southerners who began working in the early years of Court rulings that allowed them to sit of the 50th anniversary. He was part of the sites of the have encouraged the 21st century for the Freedom Riders wherever they pleased while riding on Freedom Rider 2011, a re-creation of the bus station and the beloved the removal National Monument wanted to tell a public transportation. The Freedom original rides organized by PBS to coincide the bus burning of these different story, a story of courage in the Riders’ plan was to swing through the with the airing of the documentary, as a national community yet, but monuments face of racial hatred, a story of love for this Southern states, head west through “Freedom Riders.” True to the original monument. The to more nation’s democratic ideals, a story of racial Mississippi and then further south to ride, the group of college students, 1961 bus station site the more we celebrate appropriate healing and equality. The Freedom Riders New Orleans, La. During that swing, they Freedom Riders, and participants stopped opened to the venues, like story, Ray pointed out, shows that “we’re headed to Anniston’s bus terminal, located in Anniston. Unlike 1961, the group had public in April Americans like the museums and not hapless and hopeless …. change can at 1031 Gurnee Avenue. a warm welcome and visited the two 2021. cemeteries. That occur if people have enough courage and On a day that has become known bus murals on Noble Street and Gurnee As a Freedom Riders who push has met conviction.” as “The Bus Burning,” the tension that Avenue. historian of with a great deal On this 60th anniversary of the Thomas felt as he entered Anniston proved I remember this event vividly, not just the Civil War fought for its values, of resistance Freedom Rides, as our nation continues prophetic. Tension turned to threats when because it was a moving recognition of era, I asked throughout the to battle the forces of racism, inequality, they reached the terminal where a white that pivotal moment in the civil rights Ray what he the closer we get to South. and injustice, may we all embrace the mob of at least 50 or more surrounded movement and Anniston’s history, but thought about Four years memory of the courage of those original the bus. The Riders stayed on the bus and because it differed so drastically from what the national ago, the Alabama 436 Americans — white and black, rich endured 20 minutes of screams, taunts I had found upon moving to Anniston in monument that destination. and poor, Northern and Southern, male state legislature and attacks as members of the mob hit the 2001. designation passed a and female — who were willing to risk bus with metal rods and other weapons. In 2001, there were no murals. There after all measure that their lives to create what Martin Luther Someone slashed the bus’s tires. wasn’t even a historical marker out on these years, especially in the context established a $25,000” fine against cities King, Jr. famously called the “beloved Anniston policemen arrived and Highway 202 where the bus was burned. of the nationwide effort to remove or counties that removed monuments community.” We haven’t achieved the directed the bus as it left town. Cars filled There was literally nothing publicly noting the Confederate monuments that dot in place 40 years or more. In recent beloved community yet, but the more we with members of the mob followed the the infamous role our town had played in public spaces throughout the South. days, state legislators, white and mostly celebrate Americans like the Freedom bus as it proceeded west on Alabama 202 the history of the . It Beginning in the decades after the war Republican, are working to strengthen that Riders who fought for its values, the closer and headed out of town past the city limits. is an observation that Ray made as well on and accelerating during the Jim Crow era, legislation by putting in place additional we get to that destination. his initial visit to Anniston in 2006 when he white Southerners spent ungodly amounts $10,000 fines for any person who facilitates Once over the line, two cars pulled in front first brought students to town tracing of money on Confederate monuments, the removal of such a monument. Despite Jennifer Gross, PhD, is an associate of the bus and slowed it down. Next, two of the rides. which they placed not in cemeteries near this pushback, in 2020 the city of Anniston professor of History at Jacksonville State the bus tires went completely flat, and the Fortunately, much has changed. the Confederate dead, but instead on did remove its Confederate obelisk from University. driver had to stop.

Theresa Shadrix, Project Editor Sherry Kughn, Associate Editor Josephine Ayers, Chairman and Publisher James Bennett, Executive Editor

Contributors Kris Butcher Dan Carter Pete Conroy Bill Edwards Jennifer Gross Gary Sprayberry Philip Howard Tim Lockette Sherry Kughn Theresa Shadrix Troy Turner Phillip Tutor

Designer Jessica Akridge

Cover: (Designed and edited by Elaine Hudgins) Sitting on the grass in front of the Forsyth store, Freedom Rider Ed Blankenheim catches his breath after inhaling smoke from the Greyhound bus burned by Klansmen on May 14, 1961. Photo by Joe Postiglione/The Anniston Star Trent Penny/The Anniston Star The historical marker at the Freedom Riders National Monument was installed in 2017. The Anniston Star FREEDOM RIDERS Friday, May 14, 2021 Page 3

Joe Postiglione/The Anniston Star speaks with Anniston fireman Emmett White in front of the Forsyth home. White was the Anniston fire chief until December of 1960, but continued to volunteer. Hank Thomas: One of the original Freedom Riders

By Sherry Kughn also remembered how many of the mob members on the day of The Bus Burning At about 1 p.m. on Sunday, May 14, were dressed in their church clothes, 1961, 19-year-old Howard University having worshipped on Mother’s Day. student Henry “Hank” Thomas came Thomas spoke of hoping he will be able into Anniston with 17 other passengers to attend the ceremony in Anniston to on a Greyhound bus. He remembers memorialize the bus station and, later, to the median on Quintard Avenue. Today, all the tension he felt as he rode through develop the site of the bus burning. that remains is a concrete pad. town with the group, seven of whom “I am hoping to see at least one or two So why does it matter that the were Freedom Riders on his bus, and of the people of Anniston who were at the Confederate monument is gone and the representatives of the Congress on Racial bus burning,” Thomas said, “not for me national monument to the Freedom Rides Equality (CORE). Already, they had to vent my anger on, but to help them see is in place? It matters because monuments encountered resistance in other states and what they were a part of. tell us more about the people who erect knew that the Klan members in Alabama “My wife and I are in our reflective age,” them than they do about the historical might do more than only resist. Thomas said. “We count our blessings. event or person they are supposedly meant The blacks and sympathetic white After Thomas’s role in the Freedom to commemorate. The Southerners who Riders on the Greyhound bus had left Rides ended, he was drafted into the erected the Confederate obelisk hoped Washington, D.C. several days prior to Army, where he served in Viet Nam as a to tell and reinforce a story of a white arriving in Anniston. Their goal was to test medic. While there, he was injured and South in which Black Americans were the rights of blacks to travel on Interstate spent five-and-a-half months recovering second-class citizens. The Southerners Highways, rights affirmed by two Supreme at Walter Reed Army Hospital. It was there Hank Thomas with Corporal Jemison Hank Thomas now. who began working in the early years of Court rulings that allowed them to sit he decided he would overcome the things the 21st century for the Freedom Riders wherever they pleased while riding on and Investigator Ell Cowling. that had happened to him by becoming a National Monument wanted to tell a public transportation. The Freedom businessman. In addition to raising two different story, a story of courage in the Riders’ plan was to swing through the The mob then attacked again with highway and assessed their injuries. Some children, he and Yvonne have seen much face of racial hatred, a story of love for this Southern states, head west through success. nation’s democratic ideals, a story of racial renewed violence. They knocked out bled. Some, including Thomas, had head Mississippi and then further south to windows and rocked the bus back and injuries. Most of them continued choking. One of their first business endeavors healing and equality. The Freedom Riders New Orleans, La. During that swing, they was a Dairy Queen franchise. Afterward, story, Ray pointed out, shows that “we’re forth in an effort to turn it over. Someone Thomas, along with the other Riders, headed to Anniston’s bus terminal, located threw a cluster of fiery rags through a spent the next several hours at Anniston they obtained a Burger King and then a not hapless and hopeless …. change can at 1031 Gurnee Avenue. McDonald’s restaurant. Eventually, they occur if people have enough courage and broken window causing a fire and billows Memorial Hospital, where he and they On a day that has become known of smoke. received little or no treatment. Eventually, owned four Marriott hotels, two Fairfield conviction.” as “The Bus Burning,” the tension that Inns and two TownePlace Suites. Thomas Thomas was one of the first Freedom eight cars driven by black supporters On this 60th anniversary of the Thomas felt as he entered Anniston proved became president of Victoria Hospitality Freedom Rides, as our nation continues Riders to get out, as all began choking and from Birmingham rescued them and took prophetic. Tension turned to threats when trying to escape. He exited a door while Properties and vice-president of Hayon, to battle the forces of racism, inequality, they reached the terminal where a white them to the Rev. who Inc. The couple is now retired and has and injustice, may we all embrace the other Riders and passengers crawled out arranged for their care. mob of at least 50 or more surrounded of broken windows. several grandchildren. He is a proud memory of the courage of those original In , Thomas, 79, spoke over the the bus. The Riders stayed on the bus and Thomas, hardly able to see or breathe, grandfather and said nothing pleases him 436 Americans — white and black, rich phone about The Bus Burning from his endured 20 minutes of screams, taunts began crawling on the ground and tried to more than to speak at their schools and tell and poor, Northern and Southern, male and attacks as members of the mob hit the home in Stone Mountain, Ga., where the story of how people should love one and female — who were willing to risk stand. A member of the mob approached bus with metal rods and other weapons. he lives with his wife, Yvonne. He spoke another. their lives to create what Martin Luther him and struck him in the head with a Someone slashed the bus’s tires. of receiving water on that day from an The Thomases’ business success King, Jr. famously called the “beloved baseball bat, which sent him reeling. Anniston policemen arrived and unlikely source. “This twelve-year-old has also allowed them to provide many community.” We haven’t achieved the During the attack, others from the bus directed the bus as it left town. Cars filled girl was running in and out [of her house] scholarships for students at Talladega beloved community yet, but the more we were then beaten with chains, rods and with members of the mob followed the to bring us water. She was an angel of College, Tuskegee College, Morehouse celebrate Americans like the Freedom bats. A mobster stomped one Rider in bus as it proceeded west on Alabama 202 Anniston,” he said. Medical School and the Tupelo campus of Riders who fought for its values, the closer the chest. Something alarmed the mob, and headed out of town past the city limits. Thomas was referring to Janie Forsyth, Mississippi State University. we get to that destination. either an exploding tire, a shot fired into Once over the line, two cars pulled in front the air from a state trooper or perhaps who now lives in California. Once, at a “I played a small part in helping reunion of the Freedom Riders, Thomas Jennifer Gross, PhD, is an associate of the bus and slowed it down. Next, two of the choking and toxic smoke, — no one is Americans realize some of the terrible made sure they gave her an ovation. professor of History at Jacksonville State the bus tires went completely flat, and the certain — but the white mob backed off. things they did to other Americans,” he University. driver had to stop. The Freedom Riders gathered across the During the phone conversation, he said.

THE RIDERS

GREYHOUND BUS Law Enforcement fully recovered. He sued the FBI after an Unknown Bus Driver: O.T. Jones • Ell Cowling, Alabama Highway informant, Gary Thomas Rowe, indicated • According to Walter Bergman and Roy F. Robinson, Georgia Regional Patrol, state investigator the FBI was aware of Klan’s plans to , seven or eight white Manager, Greyhound • Harry Sims, Alabama Dept of Public attack the Freedom Riders. He won his males got on the bus in Anniston, beating Safety, investigator. case. the riders and forcing them to segregate. • Herman Harris, 21, a student at Freedom Riders Media Morris College in Sumter, S.C., and was Freedom Riders who started out with • Joseph (Joe) Perkins, 27, was CORE • Charlotte Devree, freelance writer, from Englewood, N.J. the original groups, but left for various field secretary and the group chair wife of Howard Devree • Ivor (Jerry) Moore, 19, was a student reasons before the two buses entered for the Greyhound bus. He was from • Moses J. Newsome, reporter/ at Morris College and was from Bronx, N.Y. Alabama: Owensboro, Ky. photographer, Baltimore Afro-American • , 46, was the group chair • Benjamin Cox, 29, was a minister • Edward (Ed) Blankenheim, 27, was a and editor of CORE-lator. He was from from High Point, S.C. student at the University of Arizona from Other passengers: New York, N.Y. He was the only one • , 41, national director Tucson, Ariz. • Larry A. Harper, 22, BM to participate in the 1947 Journey of of CORE. He had to leave the ride to • Albert (Bert) Bigelow, 55, was an • Roberta Holmes, BF Reconciliation and the 1961 Freedom attend his father’s funeral. architect from Cos Cob, Conn. • Roy J. Powers, 39 WM Ride. • Robert Griffin, 20, was a student at • , 28, was CORE • Two other, unknown • Charles Person, 18, was a student Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, field secretary and was from Washington, at and was from N.C. and was from Tampa, Fla. , Ga. D.C. TRAILWAYS BUS • , 21, was a student at • Jimmy McDonald, 29, was a folk • Isaac (Ike) Reynolds, 27, was CORE American Baptist Theological Seminary singer and CORE activist from New York, Freedom Riders field secretary and a student at Wayne in Nashville, Tenn., and was from Troy. N.Y. State University. He was from Detroit, • Mae Frances Moultrie, 24, was a • Frances Bergman, 57, was a Mich. SOURCES retired elementary school teacher and student at Morris College and was from Media Arsenault, Raymond. Freedom Riders: Sumter, S.C. administrator from Detroit, Mich. 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice. • Henry (Hank) Thomas, 19, was a • Walter Bergman, 61, was a retired • Simeon Booker, writer, JET and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. student at Howard University and was professor from Detroit and husband Ebony The FBI: Federal Bureau of from Elton, Fla. to Frances. He was beaten so badly • Ted Gaffney, freelance photographer Investigation, US Department of Justice, on the bus in Anniston and when it for JET and Ebony 149-BH-16 Trent Penny/The Anniston Star arrived in Birmingham that he never The historical marker at the Freedom Riders National Monument was installed in 2017. Page 4 Friday, May 14, 2021 FREEDOM RIDERS The Anniston Star Charles Person: An identity affirmed

BY SHERRY KUGHN up Person and James Peck and dumped [email protected] them in the seats at the back of their bus, where the two lay bleeding and dazed. The influence of Charles Person’s Afterwards, the two recovered the best mother, Ruby, probably saved his life. After they could and proceeded on towards graduation from high school in Atlanta, Birmingham. When they arrived there, Person, who only weighed 126 pounds at another mob of whites seized and beat the time, decided, as a college student at them as they attempted to head towards a Morehouse College in Atlanta, to take part whites-only lunch counter. in the Civil Rights Movement. He was only At some point during the beatings, 18 years old and needed parental permis- someone laid a particularly hard blow to sion. His mother said no, but his father the back of Person’s head, which caused overruled her objection. Later, after he had a large and bony knot that eventually experienced violence during the Freedom required surgical removal. Rides, he chose another path in life as he During the beating in Birmingham, Per- remembered her concerns. Once he had arrived at college, Person, son was able to escape and make his way an outstanding math and physics student, to the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth’s parsonage became involved in the Committee on where he was safe. Appeal for Human Rights (COAHR), a Eventually, after the attacks in Birming- group that encouraged students to engage ham, Person returned home where his in nonviolent protests against segregation. family greeted him warmly. It wasn’t long before he was arrested and “I would have returned to the move- jailed for taking part at lunch counter sit- ment, but the Army was recruiting black ins and at other places designated “for candidates for the military academy and, whites only.” His activism attracted the also in deference to my mother, I didn’t attention of the Congress of Racial Equality return,” Person said. (CORE), a group organizing an effort to Eventually, he decided against going to allow blacks to sit wherever they wished on the military academy and, instead, chose buses traveling Interstate highways. Such to serve his country in the U.S. Marine a right had been denied in the South but Corps. affirmed twice by the U.S. Supreme Court. For years after his military service CORE needed volunteers to take part ended, Person didn’t tell others that he in what was to become known as the Free- was a Freedom Rider, not even his wife dom Rides. Person, who had been taught JoEtta. However, one day, when he visited the principles of non-violence during his Birmingham’s Civil Rights Museum, he previous activism, joined in. signed his name onto a log at the front “We were taught, when threatened, to desk. A reporter saw it, approached him, stick together as a group, never as a solo,” and asked if he was the Freedom Rider Person said in a phone interview in March. Charles Person. As his astonished wife “We had to protect the women and young looked on, he affirmed his identity and girls because they would get knocked gave the reporter his first-ever interview over and exposed. We men put our bodies about his part in the history of the state of between the whites and the women.” Alabama and the nation. During many of the sit-ins, in some of Today, Person and JoEtta live in Atlan- the less-violent confrontations, Person ta. He retired in 1981 from his job as an learned to study as he sat at lunch count- electronic technician for the Public School ers, even as he and his fellow students System of Atlanta. endured the condiments and cigarette When asked about Person’s message butts thrown at them. Other acts of intimi- dation did not dissuade their efforts. to young people today, he related a story Person, knowing the Freedom Rides about his grandfather. might be more dangerous than sit-ins, “Once, I was complaining that I could sometimes prayed for God’s protection as not get into Georgia Tech because of my the effort got underway. skin color,” Person said. “My grandfather Johnson Publishing Company Archive. Courtesy Ford Foundation, J. Paul Getty Trust, John D. and asked me if I was going to do something Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and Smithsonian Institution “There were times that I should have been scared, and I wasn’t,” he said, “proba- about that, or only complain.” Charles Person has shared his memories of being the youngest Freedom bly because I was eighteen years old.” Person chose activism and made a dif- Rider to take part in the planning and, in 1961, the carrying out of a plan to Person, who was riding the second bus ference in the lives of other black students. integrate buses that traveled the Interstate system. The new book, Buses Are that headed into Anniston, a Trailways, “Since then,” Person said, “I have a Comin’: Memoir of a Freedom Rider, co-written with author Richard Rooker, tried to exit when the bus reached the encouraged students to allow change to is available online. The book is published by St. Martin’s Press. Only 18 years terminal. However, members of the white begin with them and to make a difference. old at the time of the rides, Person had to obtain permission from a parent mob punched him in the face and began They should find like-minded people and to participate. During the rides, he received a head wound that caused him beating him and others with weapons. discuss their issues. Then, they should find problems for many years. Other members of the white mob picked a way to let their grievances be known.” FREEDOM RIDERS CHALLENGE Will you remain on the Burning Bus for 60 more years? Will you crawl out in the midst of smoke, fire and injustices? Will you struggle up, fighting for your life, and the lives of many generations for 60 plus more years?

Bridge Builder

An old man going a lone highway Came at evening cold and gray To a chasm vast, deep and wide Through which was flowing a sullen tide The old man crossed in twilight dim The sullen stream had no fear for him But he turned when safe on the other side And built a bridge to span the tide.

“Old man,” said a fellow Pilgrim near “You are wasting your strength with building here; Your journey will end with the ending day; You never again will pass this way; You’ve crossed the chasm deep and wide; Why build you this bridge at even-tide?”

“The builder lifted his old gray head Good friend in the path I’ve come.” he said “There followeth after me today a youth whose feet Must pass this way; This chasm that has been naught to me To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be; He too, must cross in the twilight dim; Good friend, I am building this bridge for him.”

-Allen Dromggole

Freedom Riders Park Board Members: Georgia Calhoun - Co Chairman, Charles Person - Co Chairman, Pete Conroy - Co Chairman, Anthony Dixon, Charlie Doster*, Willie Duncan, Bernard Emerson-Inactive, Teresia Hall, Dr. Bill Harbour-Co Chairman*, Maudine Halloway, Dr. C.W. Jairrels-Inactive, Trudy Munford, Walter Prater, Terris Morris Tucker, Mary Waldrep, Penelope Williams*

Advisory: Attorney Gloria Floyd, Dr. Barbara B. Boyd, Commissioner Fred Wilson * deceased The Anniston Star FREEDOM RIDERS Friday, May 14, 2021 Page 5

Join us in honoring the 60th Anniversary of the Freedom Riders

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www.bentonnissan.com (256)294-4629 Page 6 Friday, May 14, 2021 FREEDOM RIDERS The Anniston Star It began like any other small-town Sunday.

BY PHILLIP TUTOR on the Alabama-Georgia border. Thirty minutes later, Calhoun Theater and The Ritz to buy tickets for the after- [email protected] it would make its final stop in Heflin, before arriving in noon’s matinees. Some of them were soldiers from Fort Anniston. McClellan, a pleasant and familiar downtown sight on Sunrise, as it often does on late spring days, illuminated The day was getting warmer, as May days tend to do in Sunday afternoons. A military-themed double-feature — the beauty of the Cheaha Valley on Mother’s Day 1961. Calhoun County. Clouds began to form overhead, though “Korea Patrol” and “Drums in the Deep South” — would Like a newborn, the day carried expectations of church no one was expecting any rain. begin at 1:40. “Return to Peyton Place,” starring Carol Lyn- and family celebrations and the relaxation of the week’s ley and Jeff Chandler, was scheduled at 1:50. grandest time. A few blocks away, a crowd of about 50 men emerged Anniston awoke slowly, gently, its Sunday morning as Robinson opened the bus door. Mother’s Day civility routine hard to disrupt. disappeared. An 18-year-old Klansman sat down in front It was cool, not quite 60 degrees, when dawn broke. of the bus to keep it from escaping. Toughs yelled racial Newspaper carriers finished their last routes with The insults at the Freedom Riders. Windows were broken, and Star’s Sunday edition, the heftiest of the week. someone slashed the bus’ left-front tire. Police arrived, but In slippers and robes, subscribers sat down with their made no arrests. morning coffee and were greeted by the day’s headlines. Later, Anniston Police Chief J.L. Peek told a Star report- “Laos Peace Pact Signaled by Three Warring Groups,” The er that he “saw no violation of the law. In all the mob, I did Star’s lead story proclaimed. Beneath it were others: “JFK not see a soul I knew, and I know a lot of people.” Plans Message for Rally,” “Strife, Plots Tear State Legisla- ture” and “Okay Given Plans Here on Museum.” Just after 1:30, Peek’s officers moved the mob from the In Wellborn, family and friends of teenager Judy Chan- dler were still ecstatic from the night before, when Judy won the first Miss Wellborn beauty pageant. On Christine Avenue, the family of prominent Annis- ton businessman Carter Poland, owner of Poland Soap Works on 10th Street, was in mourning after his sudden death on Saturday. Up the street at Anniston Memorial Hospital, nurses’ Sunday morning workloads were less- ened because 29 patients had been released the previous afternoon. WHMA AM-1390 — “Your Good Music Station” — Joe Postiglione/The Anniston Star signed on at 6 with an hour of gospel music. Fifteen min- Judson Glass, son of operator of the Greyhound utes of world and national news would soon follow. bus station in Anniston, stands beside the door of Across town, rich families and poor families, black fam- the bus station with the “closed” sign, which was ilies and white families, rose in seeming unison to ready placed on the door at approximately 12 noon, May their Sunday best. Fifteen denominations were represent- 14, 1961. ed in the town’s 100 churches, and elders and deacons and priests were preparing each of them for the day’s anticipat- At noon, Anniston’s churchgoers flowed from the ed Mother’s Day services. sanctuaries, where they’d heard moving messages by the At Anniston Country Club on Highland Avenue, where city’s best pastors and priests. Glen Addie Baptist heard the monied white residents lounged, nearly 50 golfers the words of the Rev. Billy Kitchens. At West Side Baptist, would soon arrive for another round of qualifying for the the Rev. Durro E. Wood delivered the sermon. The Rev. L.J. Joe Postiglione/The Anniston Star club’s spring invitational. Jim Martin’s 72, shot the day Chambliss did the same at West Anniston Baptist Church. before, was the score to beat. Anniston police arrive at the Greyhound bus termi- In the early afternoon, workers at the city’s movie nal as the crowd gathers around the bus. theaters readied for the day’s matinees. Golfers at ACC traipsed about the course. Families went to lunch, either at home or at the few open restaurants. Baseball fans who used to follow the Anniston Rams, the city’s minor- front of the bus and allowed it to continue its trek west- league team that disbanded in 1950, went home to listen ward. Patrol cars escorted the bus to the city limits. Cars to the Birmingham Barons on WHMA or watch the Major carrying Klansmen and others followed behind. Leagues’ game of the week: Detroit at the New York Yan- Around town, Annistonians went on with their day. kees, on WBRC. At Anniston’s churches, pastors regrouped Some traveled south to Oxford Lake. Some joined the to prepare for night services and the expected large McClellan soldiers at the movies. Others enjoyed the crowds. traditional day of rest: at home, no work, just family and On Gurnee Avenue, there was activity at the Greyhound friends. Many looked forward to returning to church later that evening. station. The blinds were lowered. The door was locked. A white Six miles outside of town, near Forsyth and Son Gro- sign was taped to the right-hand door’s glass window. “Closed.”

Joe Postiglione/The Anniston Star The morning of May 14, 1961, on the west side of Noble Street

8:30 a.m.: Expecting a wonderful day Just before 8:30, churchgoers began trickling in to The Church of St. Michael and All Angels, one of the city’s architectural and spiritual masterpieces. Invoking the mood of the day, St. Michael’s invited mothers and chil- dren to be guests of the rector at a Mother’s Day breakfast in the church’s assembly room. An hour later, the city’s houses of worship resonated with the activity of Sunday School lessons and fellow- Joe Postiglione/The Anniston Star ship hours. Smiles were abundant. Ministers looked over A line of cars follows the Greyhound bus as it passes their notes for their coming sermons. They expected big Joe Postiglione/The Anniston Star the Monsanto Chemical Company on what is now crowds, Easter-like, in a few hours. The day, warming nice- Highway 202. ly without a cloud in the sky, was evolving with storybook The Greyhound bus arrives approxi­mately 12:50 precision: stunning, comforting, inviting. The type of day p.m. moving north on Gurnee Avenue between when families would worship together, lunch together and Tenth and Eleventh Streets on the east side of the spend the afternoon doing nothing more than enjoying street. In the FBI files, it is noted that the bus was cery on Alabama 202, the driver of the Greyhound bus each other’s company. allowed to circle the bus station and come into the pulled over to the side of the road, his slashed tire flat. On television, Birmingham’s WBRC-6 signed on the air loading dock without interference. Police officers hadn’t followed that far, but the mob had. with “The Gene Autry Show.” Soon, the second Freedom Riders bus would pull into Anniston’s bus stations on Noble Street and Gurnee Anniston. Avenue were quiet. 12:50 p.m.: Calm gives way to storm 10 a.m.: A bus heads for Anniston The lunch hour was ending when the first Freedom At 10 a.m., an aging Greyhound bus left Atlanta for its Riders bus pulled onto Gurnee Avenue just shy of one normal Sunday morning route to Birmingham. It was a o’clock. A few people standing on the side of the road holiday morning, so the passenger list was sparse. Of the watched the bus as it drove through town. Arriving via U.S. 14 people on board, seven were Freedom Riders, black 78, it headed north, circled the station and entered the and white, who were testing the equality of America’s loading area from a back alleyway. No one was around; interstate transit system. Also on board were two journal- no ruckus, no police, no commotion. Roy Robinson, the ists, Charlotte Devree and Moses Newsome, two under- Greyhound Bus Co.’s regional manager, was the first of two cover agents of the Alabama Highway Patrol, Cpl. Ell Cowl- people to get off the bus. The Freedom Riders stayed put. ing and Harry Sims, and the Greyhound bus line regional manager, Roy Robinson. Nearby on Noble Street, people began to arrive at the As the bus inched its way through western Georgia, Anniston’s sanctuaries opened their doors. At 10:50, sev- eral churches began their Mother’s Day services; others followed at the customary time of 11. The Bible Belt, in full display. Dr. B. Locke Davis at Parker Memorial Baptist entitled his sermon, “A Christian Home.” At Central Church of Christ at 16th and Noble streets, Pastor Elbert M. Young preached “I Surrender All.” The Rev. J. Phillips Noble of First Presbyterian Church delivered his sermon, “God’s Joe Postiglione/The Anniston Star Exceeding Love.” At St. Michael’s, Dr. Earl Ray Hart’s ser- mon was entitled, “Happiness.” Greyhound bus driver O.T. Jones examines the left As Anniston’s spiritual leaders were delivering their front flat tire. The window, which was broken at the weekly messages, 90 miles to the east, another bus, a Trail- bus terminal, is in view. ways bus, was leaving Atlanta for Birmingham. On the bus were seven Freedom Riders. A few seats were occupied by Klansmen. Traveling along were a reporter and photogra- pher from Jet magazine. 1:45 p.m.: Violence on our streets On McClellan Boulevard, cooks at Lee’s Drive-In For 45 minutes, the disabled bus starred in a scene of Restaurant hurried to prepare for an expected overflow violence and destruction on the city’s western boundary, Mother’s Day crowd. All week, Lee’s owners had adver- near Bynum. Undercover agent Ell Cowling, now armed, Joe Postiglione/The Anniston Star tised 99-cent ½ fried-chicken lunches. Families who took bravely kept the mob from entering the bus. More mom out to eat would also receive a free Mother’s Day gift. Roy F. Robinson, regional manager of the Grey- windows were broken. Through one of those windows Around 11:30, as Anniston’s churches were in full hound bus station, was the first person to disem- someone tossed burning rags into the bus, which the bloom, the Greyhound bus stopped in Tallapoosa, Ga., bark from the bus. Riders couldn’t put out. The Anniston Star FREEDOM RIDERS Friday, May 14, 2021 Page 7 It would change Anniston's place in history.

out on 202 wasn’t heard on Highland Avenue. The day was gorgeous, the temperature nearing 87. The golfing was good. At 3 p.m., the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses began its afternoon service. “Maintaining an Honorable Marriage” was the message of presiding minister E.J. Painter. At 4:15, the Trailways bus with its battered Freedom Riders pulled into the station in Birmingham. The beatings commenced, again. 5:15 p.m.: A day’s meaning Their sunny Mother’s Day hardly complete, Annisto- nians sprang back to life in the evening. The calendar was full. Out at Fort McClellan, the heralded Women’s Army Corps band held its weekly concert at 5:15; all county resi- dents were invited to attend. Workers at the Calhoun The- ater cleaned the aisles in preparation for the 6:35 showing. Out at the Midway Drive-In Theater, owner Thomas Coleman hoped for a big crowd for the 7 p.m. showing of “All in a Night’s Work,” starring Dean Martin and Shirley Joe Postiglione/The Anniston Star Joe Postiglione/The Anniston Star MacLaine. Likewise, the Bama Drive-In was about to open Freedom Rider Ed Blakenheim and Joe Perkins, Passenger Roberta Holmes and Freedom Rider Ed its gates for that night’s Peter Ustinov feature, “The Sun- CORE field secretary, are seated in front of the Grey- Blankenheim sit on the grass in front of Forsyth’s downers.” hound bus as Cpl. Ell Cowling stands in the doorway. as Jimmy McDonald, Freedom Rider, and Cpl. Ell As the sun set on May 14, 1961, there were two Annis- The reflection of the bus window shows a group of Cowling stand facing the Greyhound bus. tons: one in the churches, where spoken words touched men gathered in front of the Forsyth store. the souls of those sitting in the pews. The other was at Around 2 p.m., with the Noble Street movie houses Anniston Memorial, where the emergency room was doing brisk business, the second Freedom Riders bus filled with Freedom Riders and nurses and FBI agents and In less than five minutes, the Riders and the other pas- pulled into town. It stopped briefly at the Trailways station police officers. Klansmen and bullies were outside, wait- sengers had all escaped the smoking, burning bus, some on Noble. There, Riders nervously got off the bus, bought ing. through broken windows, others through the main door. a few sandwiches at the station’s lunch counter and At 7:15, South Side Baptist Church on Constantine returned to their seats. Avenue began the first of its week-long revival services. At For the next 20 minutes, Klansmen intent on moving 7:30, at First Christian Church’s revival, evangelist Faust A. the Riders to the back of the bus beat them, hit them in the Matthews spoke on “Bringing Truth for Open Hearts.” The face, kicked them in the head, and pulled them toward the Rev. Philip Noble delivered the message “How to Keep Life back rows. Blood flowed. On Mother’s Day, violence was in Focus” at First Presbyterian. Dr. Davis’ sermon at Parker erupting at two separate spots, on two different buses. Memorial was entitled, “Unto a Full-Grown Christian.” By half-past 2, the Greyhound bus on 202 was no longer Anniston’s services lasted until after sundown, the a bus; it was a scorched, metal shell that wouldn’t make it flocks twice-churched for the coming week. Residents to Birmingham intact. Black smoke billowed skyward. An returned home, where some turned on their televisions ambulance arrived from town and, after tense moments for the Sunday night entertainment of Ed Sullivan and Jack between the ambulance driver and Agent Cowling, took Benny on WBRC and Walt Disney and Shirley Temple on a few of the Riders to Anniston Memorial’s emergency WAPI. room. Most Freedom Riders, meanwhile, didn’t depart Anniston Memorial until nearly midnight, when rescuers arrived from Birmingham to whisk them to safety. Of the thirteen passengers treated at the hospital, three were admitted. Two of the Freedom Riders remained overnight. At daybreak the next morning, Star editors were prepar- ing the Monday afternoon edition. Adrenaline flowed in the West 10th Street newsroom. When the press rolled, the front page headline told the story of Mother’s Day 1961: “Mob Rocks, Burns Big Bus In County Racial Incidents.” Rightly, The Star heralded Cowling’s bravery: “Investigator Hero In Attack On Bus.” That afternoon, nine time zones away in Russia, Radio Moscow commented on the Anniston bus burning. Moth- er’s Day in the city, equally beautiful and horribly violent, had become a global event.

This narrative was created using information from Fed- eral Bureau of Investigation files, archives of The Anniston Star and “Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice” by Ray Arsenault. A version of this story was pub- lished previously in The Anniston Star.

Joe Postiglione/The Anniston Star One of the passengers is carried on a stretcher to an ambulance.

As the Greyhound Riders were at the emergency room, Joe Postiglione/The Anniston Star seeking help from reluctant hospital staff and trying to arrange rides out of town, the Trailways Freedom Riders bus began moving toward Birmingham, its Riders beaten but alive. Joe Postiglione/The Anniston Star Some lay on the ground, wheezing, gasping for air. Oth- Golfers at ACC, like movie-goers on Noble Street, were ers fretted about the mob, and wondered why patrolmen unaware. Though the club’s course was only a mile or two Anniston firefighter Joe Evans extingishes the fire who’d finally arrived weren’t doing more than they were. east of downtown, the commotion on Noble Street and on the Grayhound bus.

Joe Postiglione/The Anniston Star Enoch Hughes, Anniston fireman, in the burned-out Greyhound bus. Page 8 Friday, May 14, 2021 FREEDOM RIDERS The Anniston Star

Joe Postiglione/The Anniston Star The Greyhound bus arrives approximately 12:50 p.m. at the Greyhound bus station in Anniston. It is noted in the FBI files that 500 pieces of ammunition were alleged to be in the vehicle parked in the garage. May 14, 1961, was the beginning of a long season of protest

BY TIM LOCKETTE Atlanta around 11 a.m. that Sunday morn- [email protected] ing, many Calhoun County residents may have been unaware the Freedom Riders It was Mother’s Day. were rolling their way. People who picked up the Sunday But someone knew. edition of the Anniston Star that morning When the bus arrived at the Greyhound would learn that peace talks were under- station on Gurnee Avenue, according to way between warring factions in Laos, news accounts from the day, the station the Alabama Legislature was fighting over was already closed. No police were on redistricting and actor Gary Cooper had hand, but a mob of white segregations — died at age 60. 50 strong, or 150 or 200, depending on the There was no mention of the Freedom account you read — were there. Riders, a group of civil rights protesters, The group held up the bus in the alley- black and white, who were traveling across way next to the Greyhound station. One the South to challenge segregation at inter- man lay down in front of the bus to keep it state bus stations. Six months earlier, the from moving. Police arrived and at about U.S. Supreme Court had ruled that segre- 1:30 p.m., they ordered the crowd to part gation on interstate trains and buses was and let the bus move forward. By that time, illegal because it violated the Interstate white attackers had already smashed some Commerce Act. of the bus windows and, crucially, slashed Anniston had already seen its first unin- its tires. tentional Freedom Rider months earlier. Klansmen in cars followed behind the When Arthur “Art” Bacon, a Black senior at bus, out to the western edge of the city Talladega College, returned by train from near Bynum, where the slashed tires final- Christmas break on Jan. 2, 1961, he walked ly forced the Greyhound driver to stop. into the Anniston train station and took a Members of the white mob tried to storm seat in a whites-only waiting room. Bacon the bus but were held back by Ell Cowling, Joe Postiglione/The Anniston Star had read the Supreme Court decision and an armed officer of the state law enforce- assumed it was in effect. White attackers ment agency, who had been riding the bus The Greyhound bus is shown at the intersection of Tenth and Gurnee Avenue beat Bacon, and Talladega College stu- undercover. The attackers threw burning as it leaves Anniston. dents later marched in the city to protest rags into the bus, and soon the vehicle the beating. itself was burning. The attack on Bacon drew little nation- Freedom Riders escaped through win- again attacked, beating passengers of that Birmingham — a reminder of the brutal wide attention. And something similar was dows and the door of the bus. Joe Posti- bus, but the Trailways bus made it out of intent of Alabama’s most ardent segrega- true for the Freedom Riders who started glione, a freelance photographer for The town and headed to Birmingham — where tionists. their journey across the South in May 1961. Anniston Star, arrived in time to catch a another round of beatings awaited. The events of that day were the start of When three Freedom Riders took a beat- photo of the bus in full flame, with Free- Whatever the attackers intended, a long season of protest. By the end of the ing in Rock Hill, S.C. on May 10 — one of dom Riders on the ground nearby, still on Mother’s Day in 1961 they achieved year, the Interstate Commerce Commis- the first violent conflicts of the rides — it gasping for air. exactly the opposite. Postiglione’s photo sion — which had long declined to enforce made only the inside pages of The Star, for Less than half an hour later, a Trailways of the burning bus appeared in newspa- the integration ruling — relented, ordering instance. bus carrying another group of Freedom pers around the world the following day, integration in bus stations even in the When the first Greyhound bus left Riders pulled up in Anniston. Klansman along with pictures of the later events in South. Firemen: Duty over fear

BY SHERRY KUGHN eventful day. “They did their duty,” Boyd [email protected] said. “They went down there and did what they could. Back then, medical training was When the call came into the Anniston not a part of a firefighter’s duty, but they fire department, firemen Joe Evans and had some oxygen equipment. There is a Enoch Hughes rushed out of Station 4 on photo at the library showing them adminis- 15th Street to where the bus was burning tering oxygen to someone.” on the old Birmingham Highway, which is Another person remembers hearing now Alabama 202. They had heard about Evans tell what happened that day. the violence that had taken place at the bus His son Scott, 65, was only about six station on Gurnee Avenue. years old when the bus burned; however, he The two reached the top of John Hardy grew up hearing his father tell others about Hill in Wellborn, looked down and knew the bus burning. He remembers Evans, the situation was bad. The fire, the smoke, who later became captain, saying that he and the threat of violence from the crowd dragged people out of the bus. Scott said faced them, but his father never they approached mentioned to the scene any- him about being way. afraid, nor would Upon arrival, “ he have treated the two recog- blacks any differ- nized that people They went down ently from whites. might still be “It didn’t mat- in the burning, there and did what ter to him what smoking bus. color you were,” Safety first for they could. Scott said. “He human life were looked at people words that likely ” as people, and jumped to their — David Boyd, a retired Anniston he didn’t divide minds. They ran them up in color.” to the bus door fireman and assistant chief Scott said he and perhaps knows his father’s helped people attitude about out. They made those of a differ- sure everyone ent race because was out of the he often brought black co-workers or black bus and administered oxygen to those who policemen by the house whenever he was were overcome, and other fireman arrived. working. “Joe’s job was to put the fire out,” said “When he died,” said Scott, a retired David Boyd, a retired Anniston fireman and military veteran, “there were a lot of black assistant chief, who has published a history people at the funeral. I think some of them of the Anniston Fire Department. “There were the relatives of the ones he helped the Joe Postiglione/The Anniston Star was an extensive fire, and the firemen day of the bus burning. As a result of the attacked the fire.” way he was, I never had a problem working Anniston fireman Enoch Hughes holds the burned camera that belonged Boyd worked with Evans and Hughes, with people of any race. Dad never spoke to Moses J. Newsome, a Black reporter/photographer who was part of the but he only talked to Evans about that bad about anyone. They were all people.” CORE-organized Freedom Ride. The Anniston Star FREEDOM RIDERS Friday, May 14, 2021 Page 9

Special to The Anniston Star The Anniston Star staff, 1959. From left, back row: Stewart Ridgeway, engraver; , reporter; Cody Hall, reporter; Mac McCants, wire editor; George Smith, sports; and Taylor Smith, managing editor. Middle row: Billie Merrill and Cornelia Alston, Society. Front row: Unkown; Jim Chisum, reporter; Joe Posti- glione, photo; and Jim Lowry, outdoor writer, reporter, photo. Jones, Postiglione recorded events of the day for The Star

BY BILL EDWARDS their faces distraught, and the flames and [email protected] smoke from the bus in plain view.” His images “were shown around the “Racial incidents.” country and around the world,” writes That’s the label The Anniston Star’s Dr. Turkiya Lowe, chief historian for the readers saw on their front page Monday National Park Service, on the website afternoon, May 15, 1961. It described of The Conservation Fund, which helps the white mob terrorism directed the preserve vital places of human and previous day against those who would natural history in the U.S. “The media test the government’s will to enforce played a role in prompting federal action integration law. and making the events known to so many The crucial difference between this people.” and other stories they had read about On May 17, 1961, according to the racial conflict: This one had happened in FBI files related to the bus burning trial, their own town. The Anniston Star turned over 56 of the Sam Jones had written this article, 66 photographs taken by Postiglione of a taut example of his skill at capturing the Greyhound bus station and site of a narrative. After a lead paragraph that violence as an investigative aid. stated what had happened and what At the end of the month, on Tuesday, the result was — “sent at least a dozen May 30, 1961, Postiglione’s observations passengers to Memorial Hospital” as a professional photographer at the — Jones introduced not one but two scenes of the attack were entered into conflicts. One was the conflict between the record of the U.S. District Court in the mob, described as “ugly” and Montgomery. Federal Judge Frank M. “rowdy,” and the people on the bus Johnson Jr. presided over the hearing, trying to stay alive and unhurt, while the sought by the Justice Department to other, noted in a secondary headline, establish the extent of KKK involvement was between the people testing the in the mob action and to obtain an order integration law and the law enforcement requiring Birmingham and Montgomery officers. police to protect future interstate “A spokesman for the Congress of passengers. Racial Equality … said lawmen on the “Called to the witness stand by scene ‘let this happen,’” according to the government attorneys, Postiglione article. described the scene at the Greyhound There was at least one exception, station, named several persons whom reporter Jones told readers. A 45-year-old he recognized in the crowd, and possibly state criminal investigator by the name of Ell Cowling had been assigned to ride the linked the Klan with the Sunday incident,” bus that carried the Freedom Riders and Montgomery reporter Judith Rushin routine passengers. Cowling had never wrote on special assignment for The Star. experienced a mob like the white men Postiglione, on a tip, had arrived at the attacking the bus, yet he bravely “stood in Greyhound station early Sunday morning the door and kept them out till he fell out but subsequently learned the Freedom from smoke” that had filled the interior Riders’ bus would not be there as early as of the vehicle, according to a Greyhound expected. He left the station but nearby official who happened to be on board. saw a few men gathered nearby. The Page 1 article was, of course, “Approaching the group, he told important enough to present with eye- one man that the bus was not coming. catching typographic treatment — the Another man reached on the floorboard first two paragraphs received larger print. of his car and got a shotgun saying, ‘I’m It was positioned in the top right corner ready for them,’ Postiglione related,” of the page, where the biggest news of the according to the article. day normally goes. When the bus with damaged tires Sometimes a dramatic event off the pulled out of the station a little after 1 beaten track slips by unrecognized for p.m., Postiglione got into his car and Obviously there were no devices at the Ell Cowling, the state investigator riding its larger importance, but not this one. followed it at a speed of about 30 mph time whereby the news-consuming public along who helped protect the passengers; The writer included the descriptive along with a caravan of cars that joined in phrase “that drew the nation’s attention could freeze a motion picture, so the and some of the racists who had gathered from all intersections. to Anniston” because as Model City work of “Little Joe” became all the more at the bus station on Gurnee Avenue to try Exactly a year after the bus-burning, residents read their news 24 hours after the important for people to see so they could to prevent the vehicle from leaving. Inside Postiglione, described as “a free lance fact, words and images had already been understand what had happened. the May 15 issue, more “Little Joe” pictures photographer working on assignment transmitted around the world. The wire services Associated Press showed the interior of the burned-out bus from The Star,” won third prize in the Indeed, there were the pictures. and United Press International both and victims of smoke inhalation trying to category Spot News Photography in As television established its journalistic transmitted Postiglione’s photographs to catch their breath. the annual Alabama Associated Press credentials in the early 1960s, newspaper member publications, according to David The Dallas Holocaust and Human Association for the bus-burning images. editors understood they needed to reserve Weintraub, a South Carolina writer in his Rights Museum, in its exhibit about the (Postiglione snagged first place, too, for a space for their own visual presentation, essay “Eye on Image-Making: A Dream bus burning, describes Postiglione as “an picture of a racial demonstration at City too. For that, The Star relied on the work of Revealed Blog.” aggressive and determined photographer Hall early in 1961.) Joe Postiglione, a photographer who went Front-page photos that Star editors [who] followed the mob that intercepted For his prose, Jones tied for first in the by the name of “Little Joe” in the credit chose that day showed riders on the the Greyhound bus. overall news writing sweepstakes prize, lines that appeared with his work. ground outside the bus gasping for air; “He caught the Freedom Riders in the and won first prize outright for newspapers And static pictures were needed. lawmen trying to control the white mob; immediate aftermath, their clothes ashen, in The Star’s size category. Page 10 Friday, May 14, 2021 FREEDOM RIDERS The Anniston Star

The violent life of Kenneth Adams: A story of justice delayed

By Dan Carter which produced the murderer of Willie Brewster.” Historically, Calhoun County Four years later, Adams learned just native Kenneth Lamar Adams is most how much times had changed. On the remembered for his involvement in early evening of November 9, 1969, two violent events: the 1956 assault in 18-year Albert Lee Satcher and his two Birmingham of singer Nat King Cole brothers were driving home through and his role in the 1961 attack on the Anniston when their car stalled at 12th “Freedom Riders” just outside Anniston. and Clydesdale Avenue. The Black youth But these episodes were only two of the stepped out into the street and hailed a more than a dozen brutal shootings and passing car for help. The driver of a blue beatings he inflicted upon black residents and white Oldsmobile stopped, stepped in and around Anniston over a fifteen- out, and calmly shot Satcher in the year rampage. Looking back, the failure stomach and arm. Without saying a word, of law enforcement and public officials to he climbed back into his car and drove check his violent escapades is one story in away. Satcher, who would spend more the long legacy of racism that still casts a than a week in intensive care, identified dark shadow into the 21st century. Adams as the shooter from a photo line- To anyone unfamiliar with Adams’ up. In separate interviews immediately background in the mid-1950s, he after the shooting, his two brothers also seemed a genial good-natured Anniston picked out Adams and described his car businessman. Co-owner of Adams Oil in detail. One brother remembered that Company with five service stations it had an Asa Carter sticker on the rear scattered around the city, he was a high bumper. school football star in the late 1930s Adams’ lawyer, the notorious neo-Nazi and he supported local baseball and and racist J.B. Stoner, quickly “found” football teams through the 1940s and three witnesses to testify that Kenneth 1950s, occasionally with a bit too much Adams was in his station at the time of the enthusiasm. In 1953, after an umpire shooting. It seemed that it would be one made what Adams considered a bad call more example of Adams’ ability to escape against his sponsored team, he charged any consequences for his violence. After on the field and beat the hapless volunteer all, it was the testimony of three black so severely he had to be hospitalized. men against two white men and a white He was also constantly on the woman. wrong side of the law. From 1939 to But five years earlier, Anniston Mayor 1953, his police record stretched over Claude Dear had hired local attorney Bob two pages with nearly a dozen arrests Field as full-time city attorney. Born north for drunkenness, assault and battery, of New York City, Field came to Alabama transporting moonshine whiskey, and to play football with the Crimson Tide in one case, attempted murder. In most before graduating and attending law cases, he plea-bargained charges down school in Tuscaloosa and then settling to the payment of a fine and probation. in Anniston. Working closely with city To many whites, Adams seemed a classic detectives Forney Hinds and Richard example of W.J. Cash’s “helluva fellow”— Flor, Field meticulously assembled an outrageous young Southern male who the evidence against Adams. And in a aroused scorn from the respectable and powerful closing statement at the end of bemusement from others. Black residents the trial, he pleaded with the all-white of Anniston were not amused, and neither jury to reject Adams’ claim that he was was Brandt Ayers, Managing Editor of The being “persecuted.” Adams, he said, “was Anniston Star. As Ayers said, Adams was a not bullied or pushed around. It is more “personable sociopath.” likely to be the Satchers of the world who In the aftermath of the 1954 Brown come in for this kind of treatment.” Give v. Board of Education decision, Adams this young man “the same consideration became an active member of the Ku Klux nozzle through their open window and about his accomplishment to the local that you would have given your son,” he Klan and directed his violent behavior spraying them with gasoline before they press. Nothing happened. told the jurors. For if Kenneth Adams can toward black victims. He seems to have frantically drove away. FBI files and a 2009 Anniston Star “shoot Albert Lee Satcher and get away been particularly influenced by an old Complaints to the police brought no investigation also presented compelling with it, then he can shoot your boy and Calhoun County High School in Oxford relief. In 1956, Early Vaughan pulled up evidence of Adams’s involvement in the get away with it too.” friend, Asa Carter. Carter was one of next to the air compressor on the side of 1965 assassination of a hard-working The jury convicted Adams. the county’s most famous, or infamous, Adams’ station after he noticed he had Anniston black man. On July 13, Adams Even though the judge gave him a historical figures, broadcasting white a slack tire. As he stepped out of his car, told Hubert Damon Strange, one of his minimum two-year sentence, it marked supremacy “commentaries” on radio Vaughn saw a furious Adams charging employees, that he had to “prove he was the end of his violent assaults upon Blacks stations across the state, leading White toward him. Adams stopped about ten worthy of being a Klan member.” The next in Calhoun County. As one Black resident Citizens Council and Klan groups in feet away and then shot him in the leg night, Strange assassinated 38-year-old would later recall, it wasn’t the end of the the 1950s, writing George Wallace’s with a .38 caliber pistol. However, when Willie Brewster as he drove home from a struggle for true equality before the law. “Segregation Forever” speech in 1963, police arrived, Adams claimed that the long shift at the Anniston plant of the U.S. “But at least it was a beginning.” and then, after assuming a fake identity young black man had “pulled a knife” on Pipe and Foundry Company. as “Forrest” Carter, creating several best- him. As he lay on the ground waiting for But, as singer Bob Dylan said in his Dan Carter, retired University of selling books in the 1970s including The an ambulance, a policeman searched him 1960s anthem, “the times they are a’ South Carolina Professor of History, is Outlaw Josey Wales and The Education of and discovered a pocket knife. Three days changing” and the Brewster case seems the author and editor of seven books, Little Tree. later, with Vaughn on crutches, the local to have been a turning point in Anniston. including a history of the Alabama 1930s The April 1956 attack on Nat King magistrate convicted the 25-year-old of The community created a $20,000 reward Scottsboro case and “The Politics of Rage,” Cole—ordered by Carter—was only the attempted assault on Adams, fined him for the arrest of the man who had killed a biography of former Alabama governor beginning. As early as 1955, Adams had $100 ($950 in 2021), and sentenced him to the father of two, and the Anniston George Wallace. Carter won an Emmy posted a sign on his service stations: 15 days in jail. Star published a withering editorial. In for the PBS documentary of Governor “We Serve Whites Only,” and over the Adams’ rampage continued through Anniston, wrote Managing Editor Brandt Wallace that was based on his book. He following years, he repeatedly assaulted the decade. In 1960, he organized the Ayers, “We have had our scientists, our is nearing completion of a biography of Black would-be customers. Twice, he burning of over a hundred KKK crosses statesmen, our men of industry and Calhoun County native, Asa Carter (1926- pistol-whipped Blacks who stopped for throughout the county, including commerce…We have built our schools 1979) who changed his identity to “Forrest gas; when one black couple asked for the homes of several Black residents and churches. We have extolled our Carter” in 1973 and wrote four best-selling a fill-up, he responded by pushing the considered too “militant” and bragged past…And we have made a society books before his death in 1979. The Anniston Star FREEDOM RIDERS Friday, May 14, 2021 Page 11 The sins of the father: Not hers

By Theresa Shadrix brought violence to her mother. And, just like in the community, there was no one to call Eve Cole believes she has broken a for help as her father was tightly connected to generational curse. law enforcement. As the youngest child of Kenneth Lamar Although he never talked about his arrests, Adams, she remembers the violence, the convictions, or Klan activities, guests in white robes, and how her father, the Grand her home and people who surrounded her Dragon of the Dixie Klan, was feared father were not the Country Club elite. “I by the community and adored by white had, you know, a lot of people around me supremacists. that had been to jail, had murdered, just “I was either feared because I was his creepy people,” she said. “But, that’s the daughter or I was admired because I was his people he could tell what to do.” She recalls daughter or I was hated because of it.” a brief period of peace when she was nine In a phone call from her Dothan home, or ten and her father lived with Asa Carter, she reflected on the man suspected of leader and author of Governor orchestrating the May 14, 1961, attack on George Wallace’s 1963 “Segregation Now. the Freedom Riders in Anniston. The same Segregation Forever” speech. man who held the entire community captive Her memories are littered with moments through intimidation and violence. of her father’s hatred toward Blacks, and even Eve was born in 1957, just one year the thought of what he might do impacted after her father was arrested for inciting a her life. Like when she was voted “Most riot and attacking Nat King Cole during a Intellectual” at Wellborn and discovered performance at the Boutwell Auditorium in that the male honoree, Doug Satcher, was Birmingham. With two older brothers and not only Black but was related to Albert one sister, she completed the Adams family. Satcher, a young Black male her father shot She was not like her siblings, though. in 1969. After staying home to avoid having Born with a congenital absence of both her picture made, she returned the next day, arms, she had to learn to adapt to the world only to be pulled out of class for the photo. around her. As a young girl, she was not Terrified, she said she was forced to explain to aware of her father’s activities with the Ku the yearbook adviser that a picture of her with Klux Klan. All she knew was that he helped a Black classmate would bring wrath from her her become independent. She said that he taught her the little things, like driving and father. The image was not published. swimming, and to believe in herself. “He Living with the trauma of her childhood, was my number one encourager. He always she realizes she can’t change the past. She believed that I could do anything I set my cherishes the memories of her husband, mind to. So that was huge for me.” who died in 2003, and how they raised their As a student at Wellborn High School, she children. “My kids and grandkids don’t hate. excelled in academics and life. She learned They were raised to love diversity, and they to type with her feet in the school’s typing truly live that.” Her adult life, she said, has course and graduated sixth in her class in been surrounded by love, which is in stark 1976. She married Ronny Cole a few months contrast to that of her father, who died alone after graduating and eventually produced two in his home in 1990. The sins of her father are children from that union. Her high school not hers. “I guess being born different made internship at the Anniston Army Depot me have a heart for everybody.” turned into a career, where she marveled everyone at her ability to type with her toes. Theresa Shadrix is the former special Still, with all the achievements at work, publications editor at The Anniston Star in her marriage, and raising two children, (2005-2012) and former managing editor of the reality of her childhood and the role her Longleaf Style magazine (2006-2012). She father played in white supremacy in Alabama is an English Language Arts and journalism is difficult. teacher at Jacksonville High School and Although he was not physically abusive adjunct instructor at Jacksonville State to her, the combination of alcohol and hate University. Submitted photo Freedom Riders bus-burner says he’s a changed man; shares bold new outlook

By Troy Turner active in numerous civic activities, includ- ing in the Lions Club, and as one of the The only surviving arrestee from the most active members of the Keep Opelika infamous 1961 bus-burning attack on civil Beautiful organization. rights Freedom Riders traveling the South Jerome is “one of the greatest KOB vol- says: “I was blind, but now I see.” unteers,” said director Tipi Colley Miller, The man who recently turned 85 and publicly praising him in a column pub- helped burn a bus that day is today trying lished in the local newspaper. to burn a memory. Fellow Lions Club members enjoyed “I was involved, yes, but I blindly Jerome’s active efforts over the years to walked into it,” said Jerome Couch. “We lure community leaders to the club’s meet- did the Black race wrong, with a capital W.” ings, where various issues of the day rou- It is the first time in the 60 years since tinely were discussed and service-project the events of that day that Couch has ideas were conceived. shared an interview with his reflections Jerome, who keeps his phone number on what happened along a rural Alabama and email address private and remains backroad and at an Anniston bus station leery of media requests, has since moved in a series of violent attacks that jarred a from Opelika, but he has taken on another nation. mission of sorts: personal ministry. And, he’s written a book. Then and now Not about the events of Anniston, but The Jerome Couch of 2021 is a man rather, about the sometimes humorous, quick to crack a smile and just as quick to sometimes sad stories in the life of a funer- crack open a Bible. He claims repentance al home worker. for his deeds back in what he refers to as those dark and confusing days of his early Dealing with regret life; and by his account and that of others Photo courtesy of Troy Turner The name of his book is meant as a pun who know him, he is entirely a different to reflect his work in the graveyard, but In 2016, Troy Turner discussed his role in the field of journalism at the Opelika man, one who strives every day to help also his life. Lions Club and was introduced by Lion Jerome Couch. others ahead of himself. It is titled: “I Will Let You Down.” The Jerome Couch of 1961, however, He laughs, calling it a humble confes- was a much different character, and his tion that raged in Anniston when word from an Anniston man. sion that he can fail as a man, even doing story is one that serves as a clear reflection came that the Freedom Riders were on the Jerome and the other four men were his job. of how Jim Crow law once ruled the South, way. sentenced to one year of probation, on the But in letters down below the title on influenced generations of haters, and yet “I was involved. I was there,” he condition that they sever all ties with the the cover: “GOD WILL NEVER LET YOU spawned an era of change that remains a recalled. “But I got to looking at this whole Ku Klux Klan. D O W N .” mission in progress. thing, and I got to looking at this and said, Among those arrested and charged, “I just regret that I got involved in all The history of events that occurred why am I out here? I don’t believe in all of only Jerome survives today to talk about it; of that,” he says of his youthful sins. “I let during Mother’s Day, May 14, 1961, is easy this!” yet he still shies away from those days he a lot of people down by getting involved to find in any chronology regarding the His actions back then, however, sug- wishes he could forget. in something I shouldn’t have gotten civil rights era of the 1950s and '60s. gested otherwise. “The last time someone requested an involved with. Freedom Riders, they were called, Ku Klux Klan leaders were out to recruit interview with me on this was from some- “I regret it, but that’s water over the boarded buses in cities such as Atlanta, as more young white men who were con- one with the Oprah Winfrey Show,” he d a m .” one group of riders did that day on a Grey- vinced blacks remained undeserving in shared. “I said no.” Instead of dwelling on that in a depress- hound bus bound for Birmingham. Their taking away jobs and seeking equal social That was 10 years ago. ing way, Jerome has taken his faith-led goal was to bring attention to the contin- status where only a hundred years earlier, Realizing that he can never escape his changes into street corners and churches ued segregation of public services, includ- they were slaves. past, Jerome decided to change his future. and anywhere else where people are will- ing bus and train transportation, despite Jerome was ripe for recruitment, and He searched for, and found, God. ing to hear his witness and a dose of home- recently enacted federal law demanding he played a significant role when the Free- And with Him, the forgiveness Jerome spun humor meant to lift spirits and create equal access for whites and blacks. dom Rider bus arrived. hopes others finally will allow, to help him smiles. Throughout the South at a time when He was among those who slashed its cast away the dark shadows that still follow Anywhere, that is, except a media world the conclusion of the Civil War to end tires, and then, according to court records, him. that seems more interested in Anniston slavery was not yet a century old, there he drove in front of the bus and slowed than God. remained a deep-rooted hatred of federal it down once it made its way outside of ‘Flat-out wrong’ “I am a failure myself. If God had not intervention in state and local affairs, and town on the rural road where it finally “I was young and easily influenced. But sent His son Jesus Christ to die for our sins, an even deeper hatred from many whites stopped. There it was firebombed, and I have had a big, big change of heart,” says we all would be a failure,” Jerome said, on toward blacks who, in many cases, risked its escape-attempting occupants severely Jerome. “This country has done some bad his way home from handing out copies of their lives to establish a new culture for beaten. things. One of them is slavery. his book at a church back in Opelika. “But themselves and future generations. Jerome did not share specifics about his “And we have had some instead, we all can be saved and through Jim Crow law, on the other hand, was role in the attack. that were just flat-out wrong.” Him have a new life.” the unwritten rule by which many South- However, six Anniston-area men He still ponders how the Jerome of Jerome paused. Then added: erners still abided in 1961, and that meant charged and arrested for the bus-burning today could be someone who supported “He saved me.” blacks sat at the back of the bus, drank went to court only to have the hearing lead the KKK those many years ago. “I was in it from different water fountains, used sepa- to a mistrial because of issues with the for maybe six months,” before realizing it Troy Turner is a former executive editor rate restrooms, and did not recieve equal jury. The men later entered “no contest” was a bad move, he said, even without the of The Anniston Star (2000-2006), having customer service in restaurants, hotels or pleas in January 1962, Jerome one of them. court mandate that he part ways with the since worked at newspapers across the other white-owned businesses. hate-oriented Klan. U.S. before being promoted to corporate Sever all ties He worked several jobs over the years, leadership in New York for the nation’s Ripe for the KKK Roger Couch (not related) was sen- becoming a mortician and working at second-largest newspaper company. He The 25-year-old, glasses-wearing, tenced to a year and a day in jail, added to funeral homes for a career. recently started his own strategic communi- wavy-haired, wiry young man that he was, a five-year sentence for a separate burglary One of those jobs took him to Opelika, cations agency based in Auburn and can be Jerome Couch was caught up in the emo- conviction involving the theft of $14,500 and while living there, Jerome became contacted at [email protected]. Page 12 Friday, May 14, 2021 FREEDOM RIDERS The Anniston Star Freedom Rider ref lects, encourages youth to be the change

By Theresa Shadrix the principles of and scrip- ture at workshops. It is what led Zwerg to Jim Zwerg, 81, believes that change get involved. “The bottom line is if you sit comes from getting involved. there and say you have faith, but you don't From his New Mexico home, he spoke show it, you don't take action to help oth- about his time as a Freedom Rider and ers. Basically, what good is it?” encouraged today's youth to "be the When Zwerg joined the efforts of the change in the world" through action. After Nashville students to integrate movie all, it was why he became a student activist theaters, his first demonstration was with and Freedom Rider 60 years ago. Piedmont native William "Bill" Harbour. "I went to the ticket counter, and I got two Freedom Rides tickets. And I turned to my partner, Bill After the May 14, 1961, attacks on the Harbor, and we made it into the lobby." Freedom Riders from the Greyhound and The students did not give up. It's an Trailways buses, the 13 original riders left attitude that carried them through a suc- Alabama on commercial flights to New cessful movie theater integration campaign Orleans. They were beaten and weary. and toward the Freedom Rides. While they Student activists in Nashville, Tenn., were celebrating their victories, they also heard about what happened in Anniston heard about the defeat of the Freedom Rid- and Birmingham and were determined not ers in Alabama. to let violence win. They were invigorated After having an emergency meeting, he and energetic. said they determined the ride had to con- Jim Zwerg was one of those students. tinue. "If you let the segregationists think The Wisconsin native said that it was at that all he had to do is get violent enough, Beloit College in his home state that he first and you turn tail and run, it could have set noticed the discrimination of a segregat- back this whole civil rights movement, you ed society. During his freshman year, his know, years, if not decades." college roommate, who was black, experi- Zwerg was one of 18 volunteers to con- enced racism and introduced Zwerg to the tinue the Freedom Rides and 10 who would teaching of nonviolence. "I witnessed the travel to Alabama to complete the ride, physical and verbal abuse that he encoun- three females and seven males. On May 17, tered, both on and off-campus. And he was after leaving their wills with , a class act." chair of the Student Nonviolent Coordinat- Zwerg later applied for and was accept- ing Committee (SNCC), they purchased ed as an exchange student at Fisk Universi- tickets in Nashville and boarded a bus for ty, a historically Black college in Nashville. Alabama. Zwerg and Paul Brooks were "When I got down there, I was very naive arrested by Bull Conner, commissioner about life," he said. "You didn't have instant of public safety in Birmingham, as they awareness of what was happening in your arrived in Birmingham. Their time in the community, let alone around the world." Birmingham jail did not deter them. Zwerg When he could not watch a movie, eat and the Freedom Riders would continue Committed out, use the same restrooms, and shop at in the journey, encountering violence in the same stores as his Black friends, he was Montgomery on May 20. Even as he and to putting our both confused and irritated. He said the John Lewis were being attacked by Klans- segregation of stores and facilities was "the men, he felt peace and forgiveness. "I asked dumbest thing I've ever heard." God to be with me, and I asked Him to give communities and When a campaign to integrate movie me the strength to remain nonviolent and theaters was launched, he witnessed a to forgive them." He said he experienced families first. demonstration by black students. "They something beyond himself. "I felt a total were dressed up very nicely. But they just peace come over me. I felt that I was just stood there," he said. "They weren't car- surrounded in a hug of love." rying any signs or placards. They weren't Zwerg, a retired minister, looks back on shouting any slogans." the Freedom Rides with the same mind- He commented to another student that set about love, forgiveness, and action he they didn't seem to be making a difference. had 60 years ago. He also looks toward the That student was John Lewis, who, at 21, future and what young people can do. "If was already active in the civil rights move- you think the world needs to be more lov- ment in Nashville. ing, start with yourself." Meeting Lewis, who later became a congressman in Georgia, would have a Theresa Shadrix is the former special profound impact on Zwerg. "I'd never met publications editor at The Anniston Star a young person my age that just had his act (2005-2012) and former managing editor together. He was a very devout person with of Longleaf Style magazine (2006-2012). a very deep, profound faith. He had abso- She is an English Language Arts and jour- lutely embraced nonviolence. It was his nalism teacher at Jacksonville High School way of life. He was committed to it." and adjunct instructor at JacksonvilleState Lewis, who died in July 2020, shared University. The Anniston Star FREEDOM RIDERS Friday, May 14, 2021 Page 13

Committed to putting our communities and families first.

On May 14, 1961, an interracial group of civil rights activists, known as the Freedom Riders, were attacked during their journey through Anniston, Alabama. The courage and perseverance of the Freedom Riders helped ensure the integration of interstate transportation and change the course of American history. Sixty years later, they continue to inspire us, and Alabama Power takes pride in honoring that legacy by recognizing the Freedom Riders as Power Movers. Page 14 Friday, May 14, 2021 FREEDOM RIDERS The Anniston StarThe Anniston Star Friday, May 14, 2021 Page 15

Anniston grows onto global stage

Joe Postiglione/The Anniston Star By Pete Conroy As the crowd of men gathers, Roger Couch sits in front of the Greyhound bus. The Anniston Star photographer Joe “Little Joe” Postiglione was approached and asked why he had a camera around his neck. Joe replied, “Hell, don’t ask me. Ask Ken. You all sent for me.” No further action was made by the individual. This It must have been a flashpoint. picture was taken at waist level without the crowd being aware their photo was being taken. How could this average, small-town street, busy with hardware, grocery and seed stores become a global destination? How was Anniston forever thrust into the nation’s discussion of civil rights? Why are people now traveling here to better Investigating the bus burning understand redemption, healing, and history? And, why is the 60th anniversary of the Freedom Rides so important? By Gary S. Sprayberry on through. Ride. Be sure little yellow coward you bombings around the South. The answer is not just because of Let them go back to Russia, where the make enough to last you the remainder With Stoner and Anniston attorney what happened here, it’s really because Most readers of The Anniston Star are whole thing began, of your life. Your work in this part of the Hugh D. Merrill heading the defense, of Anniston‘s reaction to what happened familiar with the May 1961 attack on the The Communist bastards are making world is over.” the Freedom Ride trial got underway on here. First, the short-term reaction that Freedom Rides. It established Anniston sport of us men. According to many of the residents November 1, 1961, in Birmingham. The served as a model to others. And now, the as a key battleground in the long struggle the FBI interviewed, such tactics had proceedings were slated to begin the pre- long-term reaction, making the most of a for civil rights, exposed the city to national become standard procedure during the The insolent bastards are dumb, we all vious day, October 31, but Judge H. Hobart despicable situation for future generations. and international condemnation, and civil right era. Anyone who questioned the know. Grooms told the jurors he had been “reli- Why? It’s also because of the reaction spurred local efforts to begin the process motives of men like Kenneth Adams or The city of Anniston must have Jim ably informed of jury tampering efforts” a few original Freedom Riders had to of desegregation. It was a turning point for who appeared “soft” on integration could Crow. and wanted to take another day to investi- Anniston. In particular, Anniston has the community. expect a threatening phone call or anon- I am sorry this happened on our Sab- gate the allegations. maintained a special and personal Yet, very little has been written about ymous letter in the mailbox. Conformity bath Day. When the trial did eventually get relationship with Henry “Hank” Thomas, the FBI investigation into the attack and was paramount in the fight to uphold seg- May God forgive us, this is all I can say. underway, the prosecution appeared, by Ernest “Rip” Patten, Charles Person, and the subsequent trial of the men responsi- regation. most accounts, to have an open-and-shut the late Bill Harbour. Fortunately, they ble for burning the bus. Chappell hardly stood alone in his defi- case. They had fifty witnesses ready to tes- It’s a story almost as harrowing as the ance. Joe and Kenneth Adams, the owners The trial tify and plenty of photographic evidence. bus attack itself. of Adams Oil Company and the suspected Remarkably, considering the level of But when U.S. Attorney Macon Weaver masterminds of the bus attack, avoided fear and anger in the community, the FBI began questioning some of the locals, his The bus burning the FBI for days. The brothers had been had gathered enough evidence by the end case unraveled. According to one report- On Mother’s Day, May 14, 1961, a Grey- waging a war against the civil rights move- of May 1961 to begin making arrests. Four er, “many of the government’s witnesses hound bus carrying members of the Con- ment for years. In April 1956, for instance, assailants—Roger Couch, Frank D. John- demonstrated a reluctance to testify, and gress of Racial Equality (CORE) arrived in Kenneth attacked singer Nat “King” Cole son, Jerry Eason, and Dalford Roberts— several had to ‘refresh their memory’ the city of Anniston. CORE had come to on stage at the Birmingham Municipal were apprehended by agents and charged by studying transcripts of their previous the South to test a recent Supreme Court Auditorium, insisting that Cole and other with the destruction of a motor vehicle statements before continuing. Others who decision (Boynton v. Virginia) barring seg- African American artists were corrupting engaged in interstate commerce, a federal [had] lived in the area for years told the By Philip Howard regated facilities along interstate routes. white teenagers with their “jungle music” crime punishable by up to twenty years in court they failed to recognize anyone at The Riders encountered little resistance as and making them more susceptible to prison and $10,000 in fines. the scene.” How we view the celebration of the they made their way through Virginia, the black political and social gains. With each new arrest, additional details For instance, highway patrol officer Freedom Riders, and the many other Carolinas, and Georgia. But in Anniston, When agents caught up to Joe Adams emerged about the bus burning. For exam- M.A. Nunnally, one of the first officers to celebrations of historical significance to their luck ran out. in the wake of the bus burning, the service ple, during the attack, Eason and two other arrive at the scene of the burning Grey- Black Americans, is much debated. At the Greyhound station on Gurn- station owner demanded, “Do you have a men held the bus door shut, preventing hound, told the court: “I didn’t know Some think we must never forget. ee Avenue, Klansmen and other white warrant for my arrest?” When they replied anyone from exiting the burning vehicle. anybody taking part. I didn’t take any Others believe it opens up old wounds. supremacists surrounded the bus. They no, Adams said he had nothing to say Ell Cowling, a plainclothes detective who names and I didn’t make any arrests.” Some are too busy to care. screamed obscenities at the passengers, and that “they were wasting their time.” had been surreptitiously placed aboard Other witnesses shared his amnesia, tell- However, some care deeply and love the smashed windows, and even slashed Kenneth managed to elude the agents for the bus by Alabama Gov. John Patterson ing the court that they could not recall pursuit of learning. I am in the last group. one of the tires with a switchblade knife. more than two weeks. Even after his arrest, to observe and protect the Riders, bran- seeing any of the eight defendants at the Like an advancing nonviolent army, After several agonizing minutes, Anniston he “refused to allow the FBI to humiliate dished his revolver and ordered the men to site of the attack. (The ninth man, Cecil the Freedom Riders took the fight against police officers arrived on the scene and [him] with fingerprinting and photograph- back away so the passengers could escape Lewallyn, who was accused of tossing the segregation into the heart of the South’s cleared a path for the bus to leave. ing.” the flames. His actions probably saved incendiary device through the back win- Jim Crow laws. Their determination to be many lives during the Mother’s Day attack. As the Greyhound pulled out of the sta- Roger Couch, arguably the most bellig- dow of the bus, had suffered a debilitating treated equally and fairly was not without In subsequent weeks, the FBI arrested tion and headed west toward Birmingham, erent participant during the bus attacks, injury in a car accident back in August and loss. No great victory ends without some six other men, Kenneth Adams, William dozens of Klansmen ran to their cars and consented to an initial interview with was unable to attend the trial.) Perhaps casualty. Chappell, Frank Tolbert, Cecil “Goo- trucks to give chase. Six miles outside of agents and then tried to downplay his emboldened by these developments, Under the teachings of the great civil ber” Lewallyn, Jerry Z. Willingham, and Anniston, a flat tire forced the bus to pull involvement. At the Greyhound station on defense counsel Merrill rested his case rights pioneer and leader, the Rev. Jim Jerome Couch, who, contrary to published over to the shoulder of Highway 202, near Gurnee Avenue, Couch had taken a seat without calling a single witness to the Lawson, the Congress for Racial Equality reports, was not Roger’s brother. On the the Forsyth and Sons Grocery store. Again, on the pavement in front of the bus, pre- stand. (CORE) and the Student Non-Violent an angry, howling mob surrounded the day of the attack, after the bus escaped the venting it from leaving. Agents Clay Slate On the morning of November 3, Judge Coordinating Committee (SNCC) sought bus. When the terrified passengers refused Greyhound station and headed west, Will- and Joe Landers asked Couch about this, Grooms opened the proceedings with to test the resolve of segregationists. While to vacate the vehicle, someone tossed an ingham and Jerome Couch had pursued it but he denied it. When they presented the two startling announcements. Kenneth the Freedom Riders were committed to incendiary device through a back window. along Highway 202. At one point, they even eighteen-year-old with a photograph that Adams, described as a “leader in [the] nonviolent principles, the Ku Klux Klan Within minutes, flames had consumed the maneuvered their vehicles in front of the clearly showed him sitting in front of the alleged plot to attack the bus,” was released and White Citizens Council groups were bus. bus and slowed to a crawl to keep it from bus, Couch told them he suffered from epi- from custody when Grooms ruled there not. The testing of the Supreme Court The next day, photographs of the burn- gaining any speed. Eventually, the bus had lepsy and had only sat down because he was not enough evidence to convict him. rulings was understood to be an assault ing bus appeared in The Anniston Star and to pull over in front of Forsyth’s Grocery, so felt dizzy and feared an oncoming seizure. A few minutes later, in “a surprise newspapers around the globe. Suddenly, the driver could tend to the flat tire. Couch had a long criminal record, and development,” the judge excused a mem- the Model City had become ground zero in On September 1, the defendants, the civil rights movement. he had spent a better part of his teenage excluding Roberts (who became a witness ber of the jury, Earl Franklin Hamrick of years in and out of reformatory school and for the prosecution), were indicted by a Arab. According to Hamrick, four men The investigation prison. His excuses failed to move the two federal grand jury in Birmingham. wearing masks had visited his motel room Within hours of the attack, FBI agents veteran FBI agents. After his release on bond, Kenneth late Halloween night and warned him were out in force in the community, Even people who had nothing to do Adams threatened to sue the FBI for not to vote for conviction. “I was advised knocking on doors and gathering evi- with the attacks appeared defiant and “false imprisonment and for violation of to conduct myself with leniency,” he told dence. They interviewed dozens of res- uncooperative. A former employee of [his] constitutional rights.” Adams told Grooms. As it turned out, Hamrick was idents, and encountered considerable Adams’ Oil Company, Harry Norton, told reporters that the arrests were “part of the third jury member contacted during resistance among the white population of investigators he was a “rebel at heart” and a plot by the integrationist FBI to frame the course of the trial, and a fourth admit- Anniston. said that if he had been at the bus station nine law-abiding white men including ted that his wife had been approached. One of the first people that the FBI on Mother’s Day he would not have hesi- myself…Because I refused to allow the FBI With such evidence of tampering, Judge called upon was Klansman William “Bill” tated to beat “hell out of” the Riders. to humiliate me with fingerprinting and Grooms could have declared a mistrial Chappell who had served as a veritable Another resident, speaking anony- photographing, the FBI illegally kept me then, but he allowed the jury to begin ringleader for the mob at the Greyhound mously, told the agents that he “wished under false imprisonment…in violation of deliberating the fates of the seven remain- station and in front of Forsyth’s Grocery. everyone on the bus had been burned to my constitutional rights and Rule 46 of the ing defendants. Chappell, who owned an upholstery shop death” and that the “CORE group was ask- Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.” On the afternoon of November 3, the in town, had paraded around the bus with ing and looking for trouble.” Adams said he had only consented to foreperson announced that he and his fel- a club in his hand, daring the Riders to Filling out one of his daily progress fingerprinting after his attorney, J.B. Ston- low jurors were “hopelessly deadlocked.” step outside, calling them all “dirty com- reports, one of the FBI men concluded: er, advised him to do so. At his upcoming Grooms had no choice but to declare a munists.” He became so incensed, one wit- “It has been most difficult to get people to trial, Adams said that he would “positively mistrial and set the accused free. ness said, that he started to weep. talk.” Either they were “in sympathy with prove that the Freedom Riders set the bus A new trial was set for February 1962, Quizzed by the agents about his role in what transpired,” he surmised, or they on fire from the inside,” and that Attorney but the defendants chose to enter a plea the attack, Chappell was rude and evasive. were “afraid of the Klan as well as Kenneth General Robert Kennedy and FBI director of “no contest” rather than endure anoth- After several rounds of questions failed and Joe Adams.” J. Edgar Hoover “have been engaged in a er week of uncertainty in a Birmingham to dislodge one piece of useful informa- The latter seemed closer to the truth. conspiracy to cause trouble in the South.” courtroom. On January 16, Judge Grooms tion, the agents decided to break off the Nearly every person the FBI interviewed He added, “The grand jury should have sentenced Roger Couch to a year and a interrogation and try elsewhere. When admitted to knowing Kenneth Adams, indicted them.” day in the state penitentiary. Five others— they stood to leave, Chappell blurted out but few were willing to speak out against On the night of September 5, Robert Chappell, Johnson, Willingham, Eason, that he wanted “to show them something.” him. Taxi driver Dalford Roberts, who Kennedy, J. Edgar Hoover, CORE director and Jerome Couch—were placed on one- The two men followed the Klansman to had initially cursed the Riders but later James Farmer, and the two FBI agents who year probation. Charges were dismissed the rear of his house, where he had left a administered oxygen to some of them after had investigated the bus burning, Slate against Frank Tolbert and Kenneth Adams box containing two white kittens and a the attack, told agents: “I know I am in the and Landers, were hanged in effigy in front for lack of evidence. Charges against black one. Chappell said he was “going to middle, but I’m afraid to talk for fear of the of a welder’s shop in West Anniston. Two Lewallyn were dismissed due to the extent kill the colored kitten and hang the two life of my wife and child.” hundred residents gathered to witness of the injuries he suffered in the automo- white ones out and let them air [to] punish He was not alone. Several others said the event. Kenneth Adams’ attorney, J.B. bile accident. them for integration,” then he roared with they would not divulge any information Stoner, stood atop a flatbed truck and Legally speaking, the sentencing laughter. for fear of what Adams and his follow- harangued the crowd through a crackling of these defendants ended Anniston’s Days later, while interviewing anoth- ers might do to them. The ones who did PA system, calling the recent indictments involvement in the Freedom Ride attack. er witness, the agents discovered that cooperate received weeks of threats and of Adams and the others a “Communist But politically and socially, the impact Chappell had written a poem about the harassment. Anniston Star photographer conspiracy.” He urged the spectators to of the bus burning was only beginning to Freedom Ride assault and, with the help Joe Postiglione, whose images of the burn- join his organization, the National States be felt in the city. of some fellow Klansmen, distributed it ing Greyhound appeared in newspapers Rights Party, and help expedite the “cre- throughout the community. An excerpt: around the world, received a number of ation of a wholesome White Folk-Commu- Gary S. Sprayberry is a Professor of Our eyes are wide open, and our ears death threats by phone and in the mail. nity.” Stoner, of course, had been involved History and the Chair of the Department are too. One letter warned, “You are so boastful of in the segregationist cause since the 1940s of History & Geography at Columbus State If they know what is good, they will pass your wonderful haul during the Freedom and had been a suspect in numerous University in Georgia. Page 14 Friday, May 14, 2021 The Anniston StarThe Anniston Star FREEDOM RIDERS Friday, May 14, 2021 Page 15 Could you get on the bus?

By Kris Butcher campaign that brought national attention Riders” set out to challenge discriminatory others to join the civil rights movement. to the brutal reality of segregation in the state laws and local custom that required Today, these places do not speak, so Marcus Garvey said, “A people South and forces the federal races be separated on buses and in bus the Freedom Rider National Monument without the knowledge of their government to take action toward station facilities. By the end of 1961, over is committed to working alongside local past history, origin and culture ending segregation in interstate 400 Freedom Riders risked their lives partners and community members to tell is like a tree without roots.” We travel. criss-crossing the South on more than their stories. The stories of the Freedom must remember the entirety of How does a bus depot, a patch 50 Rides, responding to violence and Rides continue to challenge and inspire. our history, even the moments of highway grass, and a few murals incarceration with nonviolent direct So, I invite you to visit the places, learn we want to forget. Freedom promote racial reconciliation? action. The iconic images of the burning the stories of the people, and ask yourself, Riders National Monument They don’t. However, the stories Greyhound bus, taken by The Anniston “Could I get on the bus?” was established to foster and legacy of the people who Star’s Joe Postiglione, and savagely beaten reconciliation and racial healing stood against injustice in those Freedom Riders publicized worldwide, Kristofer “Kris” Butcher is by commemorating the stories, BUTCHER places can. raised awareness of the depths of violent superintendent of Birmingham Civil Rights places, and people involved in the In the spring of 1961, an enforcement of segregation in the South, National Monument and Freedom Riders 1961 Freedom Rides, a nonviolent interracial group of 13 “Freedom resulting in political action, and inspiring National Monument. Anniston grows onto global stage

By Pete Conroy didn’t give up on Anniston. more planning and federal resources will led by the Freedom Riders Park Board, Consider the thoughts of Mr. Person be dedicated to ensure visitor education Jacksonville State University, and others It must have been a flashpoint. over the past 30 years. He says that at and satisfaction. Maybe the best example from around the nation. The program How could this average, small-town the time of the 40th anniversary of the of another National Park unit’s growth is being developed as a digital training street, busy with hardware, grocery and event, he didn’t want to get off their bus potential is nearby in Fort Payne, where platform with a curriculum to benefit a seed stores become a global destination? as it passed through Anniston en route to the Little River Canyon National Preserve variety of audiences. The place to host How was Anniston forever thrust into the Birmingham. During the 50th anniversary was established in 1992. With similar this training is across the street from the nation’s discussion of civil rights? Why event, he did get off the bus and was slow beginnings, it’s grown to having historic Greyhound Bus Depot which has are people now traveling here to better surprised to meet a welcoming and warm over 800,000 visitors last year, with an has recently been acquired by the Freedom Investigating the bus burning understand redemption, healing, and community. Now, for the 60th anniversary, annual economic impact exceeding Riders Park Board. It is currently under history? And, why is the 60th anniversary he says that he has so many friends in the $15 million. Similarly, Freedom Riders consideration for massive restoration as a of the Freedom Rides so important? area that he and his wife Joetta would be National Monument has the same limitless Freedom Rider-themed meeting center. The answer is not just because of happy to live here. potential. The vision of a busy, small-town street what happened here, it’s really because It must have been a flashpoint that Another developing milestone has is certainly back and with continued, of Anniston‘s reaction to what happened triggered the historic violence on May been the establishment of the Freedom coordinated planning, we’ll all enjoy the here. First, the short-term reaction that 14, 1961. But what we do with this history Riders Training Institute, a program fruits of people united for the benefit of served as a model to others. And now, the shouldn’t be. It should be a deliberative, dedicated to the Freedom Riders’ others, as demonstrated in 1961 by the long-term reaction, making the most of a multigenerational effort that encompasses basic tenet of non-violent protest. As a brave and history-making Freedom Riders. despicable situation for future generations. the broadest coalition of people, with the reaction to the death of George Floyd, Why? It’s also because of the reaction widest array of viewpoints and partners. Charles Person asked to establish Pete Conroy is the director of Jacksonville a few original Freedom Riders had to And so far, so good. an educational program to actually State University’s Environmental; Policy Anniston. In particular, Anniston has A particular milestone was the benefit protesters, law enforcement, and Information Center (EPIC). He is on the maintained a special and personal establishment of our National Park first responders, the media, community Freedom Riders Park Board and a member relationship with Henry “Hank” Thomas, Monument in 2017. Dedicated to leaders, and others, in preparation for of the Freedom Riders Training Institute Ernest “Rip” Patten, Charles Person, and preserving and telling the story of the when demonstrations escalate. The result committee. He can be reached at pconroy@ the late Bill Harbour. Fortunately, they Freedom Riders — it is forever. Each year, has been a collaboration of professionals jsu.edu. Freedom Riders: American heroes

By Philip Howard America toward that "more perfect Union." Learning and celebrating our shared How we view the celebration of the SIX PRINCIPLES OF NONVIOLENCE history is not to denigrate anyone. Instead, Freedom Riders, and the many other it's to commemorate those warriors of celebrations of historical significance to 1. Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people. It is active nonviolent peace who had a direct hand in shaping Black Americans, is much debated. resistance to evil. America. The integrated and diverse group Some think we must never forget. 2. Nonviolence seeks to win friendship and understanding. The end result of of Freedom Riders are conquering heroes. Others believe it opens up old wounds. nonviolence is redemption and reconciliation. Men and women like Charles Person, Some are too busy to care. 3. Nonviolence seeks to defeat injustice, not people. Nonviolence recognizes Pauline Knight-Ofosu, Hank Thomas, and However, some care deeply and love the that evildoers are also victims. the additional 400 Freedom Riders were pursuit of learning. I am in the last group. 4. Nonviolence holds that suffering can educate and transform. Nonviolence willing to die for liberty and equality. It Like an advancing nonviolent army, willingly accepts the consequences of its acts. is never the wrong time to celebrate true the Freedom Riders took the fight against 5. Nonviolence chooses love instead of hate. Nonviolence resists violence patriots. I stand with millions of others, segregation into the heart of the South’s to the spirit as well as the body. Nonviolence love is active, not passive. Nonvi- both locally and internationally, who are Jim Crow laws. Their determination to be olence love does not sink to the level of the hater. Love restores community and humbled by the presence and sacrifice of treated equally and fairly was not without resists injustice. Nonviolence recognizes the fact that all life is interrelated. the Freedom Riders. We will never forget loss. No great victory ends without some 6. Nonviolence believes that the universe is on the side of justice. The nonvio- and, on this 60th anniversary, we salute casualty. you and say thank you. And, that is why we Under the teachings of the great civil lent resister has deep faith that justice will eventually win. must continue to share the principles of rights pioneer and leader, the Rev. Jim nonviolence and the story of the Freedom Lawson, the Congress for Racial Equality — From The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change Riders. Because the Freedom Riders from (CORE) and the Student Non-Violent 1947 to1961 represent what is great about Coordinating Committee (SNCC) sought America. to test the resolve of segregationists. While on Jim Crow laws and local ordinances John Quincy Adams and Dr. Booker T. the Freedom Riders were committed to throughout the South. Washington, like Eleanor Roosevelt and Philip Howard is an advocate for nonviolent principles, the Ku Klux Klan History is a place to find real heroes Mary McLeod Bethune, like Genevieve conservation and the preservation of and White Citizens Council groups were and real stories about America — the Hughes and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and civil rights sites across the country, with a not. The testing of the Supreme Court greatest nation in the world. We hold like and Virginia Durr: specific focus on culturally important civil rulings was understood to be an assault that title because of people like President All are Americans who sacrificed to move rights sites and stories in Alabama. Page 16 Friday, May 14, 2021 FREEDOM RIDERS The Anniston Star CALHOUN CO CHAMBER OF COM 6x20.750 CALHOUN COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE MILITARY & SECURITY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

Proud supporter of the 60TH ANNIVERSARY of the FREEDOM RIDERS

The Alabama Army National Guard Training Center The Anniston Army Depot The Center for Domestic Preparedness The 167th Theater Sustainment Command