We had the opportunity to go to a speaker and watch a video about the “Freedom Riders" the speaker and video was very informative and inspired me to blog about it!
When I first heard the term “Freedom Riders” many things came to mind. Before attending the lecture about them, I did research and discovered it was the name given to courageous people who fought for equal rights for all Americans by riding on buses in the South. The Jim Crow Laws of the 1890s represented a coded system that affected almost every aspect life in the South. The laws called for segregation of schools, parks, restaurants, water fountains, etc. To make matters more extreme, there were signs labeled “colored only” or “whites only” to make sure people knew their place. As a student growing up in America, I was never told about the Freedom Riders and who they were. I only learned about the Civil Rights Movement and the laws that segregated the blacks from whites. After attending this lecture, I feel as though there is so much more I want to know about them and their experience.
As a future teacher, this benefits me because even from just attending a lecture, I learned more about the Jim Crow era than I had known before. Just by viewing pictures and seeing the documentary, I felt as though I was re-living the nightmare these innocent people experienced. I can take the information I learned about the Freedom Riders and teach it to my class one day so they understand how a group of people can really make a difference. This lecture inspired me to research further on the Freedom Riders and perhaps even try to bring one of them to our SUNY Cortland campus in the future. Besides, with a little determination, anyone is capable of making a difference, right?!
I wish I could have seen the movie, but I had other obligations the day it was being shown. My internet is so slow that it would be impossible for me to watch any movie on it. Just watching a uTube video takes three times as long. I will have to see if the library has that movie. My husband grew up in the south during the 1960s and he saw segregation first hand and has told be many stories. As a kid I really did not notice anything as a kid growing up in Brooklyn. You have inspired me with your blog to look into this subject some more.
ReplyDeleteI'm still mad I missed this movie. Although I know it still exists, it's so hard for me to picture all the horrible things that happen to people because of their skin color. The movie sounds like it brings such life to those who did not experience it. I'll definitely have to check it out!
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