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Article: They risked their lives to fight injustice: the Freedom Riders challenged racial segregation in the American South. Their writing--and writing about them--tells the story of a dangerous time.(Focus)(Cover Story)
- Article from:
- Writing!
- Article date:
- February 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Weekly Reader Corp. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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James Farmer was certain he was going to die. What he feared, however, was what the mob might do to him before he died. He had seen photographs of lynching victims. Many had been tortured before being hanged or burned....
The Greyhound bus sat motionless and crippled at the side of the road. The angry mob that surrounded the bus was shouting and smashing its windows with bricks and pipes. James Farmer and the other Freedom Riders were trapped inside. Someone hurled a firebomb through one of the windows, and the bus exploded into flames. Staying inside meant being burned alive. Crawling through the windows meant facing the mob.
"I hoped the reporters were ...