Anniston and Birmingham bus attacks

Anniston and Birmingham bus attacks
Part of the Freedom Rides within the civil rights movement
A Greyhound bus burns after being firebombed by a mob outside of Anniston, Alabama. It had been carrying Freedom Riders, who all survived. The photograph, taken by Joe Postiglione, became a defining image of the civil rights movement.
Anniston Birmingham Anniston and Birmingham, Alabama (the United States)
Location	Anniston and Birmingham, Alabama
Coordinates	33°39′29″N 85°49′52″W / 33.658124°N 85.83114°W / 33.658124; -85.83114
Date	May 14, 1961; 63 years ago ~1:00 p.m. (UTC-5)
Target	Freedom Riders
Attack type	Arson Mob violence Attempted lynching
Injured	10–20
Victims	Greyhound Bus: Joseph Perkins Genevieve Hughes Albert Bigelow Hank Thomas Jimmy McDonald Mae Frances Moultrie Ed Blankenheim Charlotte Devree Moses Newson Trailways Bus: James Peck Charles Persons Frances Bergman Walter Bergman Herman Harris Ike Reynold Ivor Moore Simeon Booker Theodore Gaffney Other victims: George Webb Tommy Langston Clancy Lake L. B. Earle (Klansman beaten by accident)
Perpetrators	BPD conspirators: Commissioner Eugene "Bull" Connor Police Chief Jamie Moore Police Sergeant Tom Cook Detective Red Self Ku Klux Klan: Bobby Shelton Gary Thomas Rowe Jr. (FBI informant) Kenneth Adams William Chappell Roger Couch Jerome Couch Cecil "Goober" Lewallyn Hubert Page Gene Reeves NSRP: Edward Reed Fields J. B. Stoner
No. of participants	50–200
Defenders	Alabama Highway Patrol: Ell Cowling Harry Sims
Motive	Racism and support for racial segregation

The Anniston and Birmingham bus attacks, which occurred on May 14, 1961, in Anniston and Birmingham, both Alabama, were acts of mob violence targeted against civil rights activists protesting against racial segregation in the Southern United States. They were carried out by members of the Ku Klux Klan and the National States' Rights Party in coordination with the Birmingham Police Department. The FBI did nothing to prevent the attacks despite having foreknowledge of the plans.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]}

Although the United States Supreme Court had ruled in 1946 and 1960 that segregation on interstate public transport was unconstitutional, southern Jim Crow states continued to enforce it. To challenge this, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) organized for an interracial group of volunteers – whom they dubbed "Freedom Riders" – to travel together through the Deep South, hoping to provoke a violent reaction from segregationists that would force the federal government to step in. Traveling in two groups on Greyhound and Trailways bus lines, they would pass through the segregationist stronghold of Alabama, where Birmingham Police Commissioner Eugene "Bull" Connor conspired with local chapters of the Klan to attack the Riders.

On May 14, the Greyhound group was swarmed by a mob in Anniston. While police turned a blind eye, their bus was firebombed and the passengers physically assaulted. When armed Alabama Highway Patrol agents prevented the Freedom Riders from being lynched, the attackers dispersed and left the passengers to seek medical attention. The Trailways group reached Anniston approximately one hour later, where Klansmen assaulted the Riders and forced the black passengers to move to the back of the bus. They continued to Birmingham, where a mob of additional Klan members, armed with blunt weapons, attacked the Freedom Riders in a fifteen minute frenzy of violence, during which the area was deliberately vacated by the police. Although there were no fatalities, several of the Riders – as well as a number of news reporters, multiple black bystanders, and a Klansman who was accidentally beaten by his own accomplices – required hospital treatment. After regrouping with the aid of Fred Shuttlesworth, most of the Freedom Riders opted to continue to New Orleans via plane, although some stayed in Birmingham in order to organize a new Freedom Ride with fresh recruits.

The attacks caused shock throughout the country and brought the issue of segregation under an international spotlight, embarrassing the United States during the height of the Cold War. By orchestrating them, Connor and the Klan had intended to deter future Rides, but they had the opposite effect and inspired hundreds of volunteers to spend the summer of 1961 traveling across the South facing arrest and mob violence. This galvanized public support and put immense pressure on President John Kennedy and Attorney General Robert Kennedy to act. In late September, the Interstate Commerce Commission issued regulations which effectively ended segregation in public transportation.

The Freedom Rides and the May 14 attacks brought CORE from a position of relative obscurity to the forefront of the national movement against white supremacy. They are considered a key event of the civil rights movement.