Agenda - 06-01-2021; 8-a - Minutes

Browse Search

13 1 2 Renee Price, Chair 3 Orange County Board of Commissioners 4 5 A motion was made by Commissioner Greene, seconded by Commissioner Hamilton, to 6 approve and authorize the Chair to sign the proclamation. 7 8 Roll call ensued 9 10 VOTE: UNANIMOUS 11 12 Annette Moore, Human Rights and Relations Director, reviewed the information in the 13 agenda background, and highlighted the Community Conversation event, taking place on May 14 23, 2021 from 3:00 pm to 4:30 p.m. 15 16 e. Proclamation Commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the Freedom Rides 17 18 The Board considered voting to approve a proclamation commemorating the 60th 19 anniversary of the Freedom Rides. 20 21 BACKGROUND: On May 4, 1961, thirteen black and white civil rights advocates boarded 22 buses in Washington, DC, to begin a journey on interstate highways through Virginia, North 23 Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, and Louisiana. The Freedom Riders sought to 24 challenge the enforcement of the United States Supreme Court decisions in Morgan v. Virginia 25 [1946] and Boynton v. Virginia [1960], which ruled that segregation in bathrooms, waiting rooms, 26 lunch counters, and in interstate transportation facilities, including bus terminals, was 27 unconstitutional. 28 29 The Freedom Rides occurred during a time when the Civil Rights movement was gathering 30 momentum, when African American in the South were routinely harassed and subjected to 31 segregation by Jim Crow laws. The Congress of Racial Equality ("CORE") organized the 32 Freedom Rides under the leadership of James Farmer. CORE sought application from diverse 33 men and women of various ages from across the United States. Among the first thirteen 34 selected was Reverend Benjamin Elton Cox, a retired minister at Pilgrim Congregation Church 35 in High Point, North Carolina. The Honorable John Lewis, then 21, represented the Nashville 36 Branch of CORE and was a member of the original thirteen Freedom Riders. The original froup 37 of Freedom Riders prepared by completing a few days of training on role-playing, preparing how 38 to respond to nonviolent ways to harassment. 39 40 • May 4, 1961 - Greyhound and Trailways buses leave Washington, DC for New 41 Orleans. John Lewis and another rider beaten in Rock Hill, South Carolina. 42 43 • May 8, 1961 - Joseph Perkins is the first Freedom Rider to be arrested after 44 sitting at a whites only shoe-shine stand in Charlotte, NC. John Lewis is 45 assaulted in the Greyhound bus terminal of Rock Hill, SC, after attempting to 46 enter the white waiting room with fellow Freedom Rider Al Bigelow. 47 48 May 12, 1961 — Freedom Riders warned of violence ahead by Martin Luther 49 King. 50