Last-Minute Plans: Freedom Riders Premiere at DuSable Museum

By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Apr 8, 2011 9:00PM

On May 4, 1961, civil rights activist started riding buses into the South to challenge segregation laws in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision in Boynton v. Virginia, which struck down racial segregation in public transportation as a violation of the Interstate Commerce Act. The mostly young men and women who embarked on these "Freedom Rides" expected violence and opposition, and were beaten, faced with angry mobs and imprisonment on their travels. But their courage from May to December 1961 in the face of the Jim Crow South inspired scores of citizens on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line to join the Civil Rights Movement.

Filmmaker Stanley Nelson's documentary Freedom Riders is set to make its premiere on PBS on May 16. Folks interested in wanting to view the film before then can have a chance tomorrow at the DuSable Museum of African American History tomorrow at 2 p.m.. The screening will be followed by a discussion with Nelson and Freedom Riders Genevieve Huse Houghton, Thomas Armstrong and Dan Stevens.

Chicago Premiere of Freedom Riders, 2-5 p.m. April 9 at the DuSable Museum of African American History, 740 E. 56th Pl.

Watch the full episode. See more Freedom Riders.