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Freedom Ride Commemoration

One of the most important North Carolina civil rights protests before the sit-ins of 1960 will be commemorated in Chapel Hill on Saturday, Feb. 28 with the unveiling of a historic state highway marker at the corner of Rosemary and Columbia streets.
The protest of 1947, called the “First Freedom Ride,” consisted of an interracial group committed to testing a Supreme Court decision in 1946 that ruled state Jim Crow laws on interstate buses and trains were unconstitutional. On their trip on April 13 from Chapel Hill to Greensboro, the bus driver demanded that they re-seat themselves according to Jim Crow laws. Upon their refusal, the driver summoned the police and an angry mob of white cabdrivers attacked one of the Freedom Riders. The events precipitated an unprecedented debate on police conduct, Jim Crow laws and mob violence.
The event on Saturday will begin with a gathering at noon at the Hargraves Community Center. A march from the center to the dedication site will then take place. The dedication will occur at 2 p.m. and a reception will be held afterwards at Town Hall, 405 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

2 replies on “Freedom Ride Commemoration”

The First Freedom Rides (part 1 of 2)…

Before Rosa Parks, there was Irene Morgan
On Saturday, February 28, 2009, the Chapel Hill/Carrboro NAACP, the Town of Chapel Hill, and the people of the Chapel Hill community gathered for a dedication of a highway historical marker to commemorate the 1…

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