Travel Notes from a Deep South Tourist, New South, July-August
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Travel Notes froll'l a Deep South Tourist By FRANK HOLLOWAY THE SUNDAY AFTER the mob v iolence seats on the Jeft side. I think this sort in :\10ntgomery, Ala., Harold An of shook the bus driver up. He kept drews, an Atlanta college student, and looking at us and then got off the bus I decided to go to Montgomery to and talked to a couple of the police join the Freedom Riders. We didn't meo, pointing in our direction. The have the money. and most of the other passengers were mumbling and Southern Christian Leadership Confer I co"ld sense they were talking about ence people and the Student Non-Vio us. lent Coordinating Committee were al "It looks like the Freedom Ride is ready in Montgomery so we couldn't starti ng right here," I said to Harold. get travel funds from them. We ran After about ten minutes the driver all over town afkr money, and finally gO( back on the bus, and we we re on borrowed some from a neighbor. He our way. A police car followed us U [1 told us that his only regret was that he til we reached the city limits. didn't have more to give us. When we pulled into the LaGrange, We bought our tickets at the G rey Ga., station, the driver told us we hound Bus Station, and went to the had a IS-minu te rest stop. Harold and station cafeteria which had never I got off the buo;; and went into the so served Negroes. We were served wi th called "white" waitillg room. We were Oul any trouble, the first l'\egroes to met by a man who called himself Ithe eat there, and we fel t pretty good that manager or something like tha,t. He this was settled. However, there were told us the "colored" waiting room was heavy detachments of plainclothes a,ound in back. We smiled slightly policemen on the scen~~ . I don't know and kept on walking into the white how they got there so fast but there \-I.ailing room. He said, "Get out of they were. After a piece of pie and the -- - white waiting room and go abouc three cups of coffee, we went to where you belong." We still didn't say the loading dock to board the bus. The any thing to him. About this time up plainclothesmen were right behind us, pops a policeman telling us to "get tryi ng to be inconspicuous. We got on your - -- outa here or else." I the bus a nd sat in the first aod second asked the policeman where was the rcst room. He pulled his night stick or blackjack, swung wildly at us. We (Mr. Holloway, a 21 -year-old Atlantan, Is n veteran of sit-ins, kneel-ins and other student demonstrations hacked off, but he did hit us a little. of the lasl IS months, and has served two Jail sen tences for vioialion of Georgia's anti-trespass law.) Then the manager and two or three Freedom Riders (us) were arrivi ng Tourist Continued that night, h e nc ~ the mob's welcome other men pushed, hit and ki cke d us party. Anyway, we went into the right OD out of the waiting room . "wh it e" waiting room and tried to People were begi nning to gather on phone for help, whi le the ma rshals the out side. The bus was abo ut to were holding back the crowd on the leave, so we got back on and sat in outside. We could n't con tact the Mont front as before. Outside we noticed gomery Negro lea ders . so we decided two of the "agitators," telephoning. We to get some sort of tran sportation to believe they passed the word on th at one of their houses. But the cab driv two Freed om Riders were en route to ers refused to tak.e us and the Negroes Monlgomery. were afraid to come anywhere near the bus sta tion . So there we were, One thing {hat made us feel rather good happened at Tuskegee when lhc strand ed, not knowing anyone and with bus picked up some NegJo passengers, no place ·to go, and no way to get there. who went to the rear. A couple of Negroes outsid l,; of the waiting room minutes later a Negro man came up were afraid to help us. They said some and sat by Harold. He told Harold Negro cars had been burned by the mob and they feared it might happen tha t he noticed us sitting to the ironl again. WI,; had no choice but to try when he got on and that he had n~ver seen this before in Alabama. Then he to wa lk away. One Negro told us there was a large mass meeting at the First said it came to him we were Freedom R iders, and that he felt an obliga:ion Baptist Church, where Rev. Ralph to us and himse lf to join us in (h e Abernathy is pastor, and that Dr. King fr ont, although he was afraid to. He and all the Freedom Rid ers were there. also said he didn't exactly go along We Jeft On foot , not knowing what with that non·violence jive the students direction to .take. Before we gOl 50 were practicing. So for th e remainde r feet from the station w (! were stopped of th e trip we talked to him about non by the police and federal marshals, violence in opposition to violence. who made us go back into the bu s sta We arrtved in Montgomery abou ~ 9 tion for our own protection. We went p,m. The city seemed to be going into the "whj.te" waiting room, and crazy. There we re ma sses of peopl e Montgomery police carne ln and told out on tbe streets with police cars, state us we would have to go lO the "Negro" troopers and federa l marshals, and th e side, because the mob outside was noise of si rens. Our bus was escorted angry and they didn't wa nt to have from th e ci ty limits to the Greyhound "any trouble like We had yesterday." station by two carloads of marshals. In We didn 't say anything, but just con the heart of town, mobs of people tinu ed telephoning, trying to reach waved their fists and yeUed at us. A t some Montgomery Negro Jeaders. the station we met a mob es timated Again , they asked us to move, this to be 1,500 strong. We sa t in the bus time more firmly. The federal marshals for a few min utes and the n got off. The came up to us and stood by us silen t marshals held the mob off and some 20 ly. The police asked us to move a thi rd of them surrounded us to protect us. time and when we didn't (hey put us One of them told me that the news had under arrest. We were charged with gotten to Montgomery that two more refusing to obey an office r. About an hour after our arrest we About 7 :30 a. m. Wednesday, th e wen.! freed. Two sergeants esconed us first busload of Freedom Riders left back to the bus stalion. '1 hey refused for Jackson, beginning our invasion of to tell LJ S why we were freed or where the Sovl.: reign State of Mississippi and we were going. In fact, they told me to ils rigid segregation. "shut your - ~ - mouth or else we'lI I left on another bus at 11 a.m. take matters into our own hands." So First, we ale integrated in the " white" I shut up. At the bus station we st ill room without any trouble, guarded by had the problem of making contact about 50 NMional Guardsmen. We wi.f.h the Negro community. It seemed were also escorted on au r ride by that everything and everybody was troopers and Guardsmen, abou110 cars working against us , and we didn 't know in fr ont of us and maybe 15 behind us. what to do or wh ere to go. Ahead of the parade were some 20 Finally a brave young Negro cab Montgomery motorcycle potice. who driver came by to help us . Well, we left us at the city limits. were glad to see that cat. For one solid We had several reporters and Na hour or mo re we rode through Mont tional Guardsmen On our bus. The gomery streets, trying to get to the Guards sat both behind and in front church, but the streets 1O the church of us, with their commanding officer were blocked off by Alabama Guards. standing in front, looking as jf he We ran into sevaal road blocks and would shoot us if we made the slight were searched .five times, but we finally est move. So we didn't make the made- it to the church. slightest move. Two or three hundred National The newsmen interviewed us and Guardsmen surrounded the church. In other times we looked out of the win side were three Or four times as many dow at the pretty scenery and talked people as the church was supposi.!d to about what we would eat at Jackson. hold, and it was very hot and uncom Some of us slept and some read.