BusTalk

Mr. Linsky · Posted: Sun May 15, 2011 12:44 pm Post subject: 'FREEDOM RIDERS'

Tomorrow night (May 16th. 9/8 Central Time) PBS will show 'Freedom Riders' and, while the story is true, inspiring and an important part of our history, the early sixties buses should also be very interesting to see.

Just a reminder of what a violent time it was below.

Photo courtesy of the Birmingham Public Library.

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, New York

N4 Jamaica · Joined: 16 Apr 2007 Posts: 858 Location: Long Island

What courage the freedom riders had! All praise to them.
---
It is an excellent two-hour film. As far as buses are concerned, the biggest surprise was the imitation "scenicruiser" Trailways provided over the border to Mississippi.
---
I kept thinking that JFK didn't learn deeply from the book he previously wrote, "Profiles in Courage."
Joe

N4 Jamaica · Joined: 16 Apr 2007 Posts: 858 Location: Long Island

The beatings to the head, with bats and pipes, was part of the violence that I did not notice in my spring of 1961. Neither, as I read newspapers or saw television in New York, did I advert to the police giving the assailants fifteen minutes of unrestricted attack time (Anniston, Birmingham, Jackson). I don't know how these events passed over me.
----
Regarding buses, some items people may already know: 1) These rides were on scheduled, not charter buses; 2) The Greyhound, when stopped at Anniston, had its tires punctured by individuals in the mob, so that when the bus left town it had about five miles to go before the tires were flat; 3) The intent of the fire bomb and the mob seemed to have been to burn the occupants, including some who were not Freedom Riders; 4) Only an explosion forced the mob back, releasing the front door, but then the travelers were beaten.
----
The bus station photos (films, stills) would be interesting to a bus fan.
The narration did not point to the Intrastate signage on waiting rooms that was a dodge around the ICC, which itself was ineffective.
----
In all, it was a depiction of real courage, terrifying hate, and political reluctance.
----
Concerning my earlier post about an unusual Trailways bus, here is a link to P-220:
http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Multimedia.jsp?id=m-2103

JimmiB · Posted: Sun May 22, 2011 12:41 am Post subject:

Here's a link to a photo of a Trailways Vista-Liner pulling into Jackson, Miss. with Freedom Riders on board.
http://www.angelfire.com/al/silverball/CML-P220_Flx228JT1-Jackson.jpg

This is the same bus, number P-220 as in the photo linked by N4 Jamiaca. This is a 1955 Flxible, model 228J, owned by Capital Motor Lines from Tennessee.