On May 4, 1961, the CORE Freedom Ride departs Washington. Following several days of nonviolence training, 13 Freedom Riders and three journalists begin the journey on two separate buses.
In the first significant confrontation of the CORE Freedom Ride, Joseph Perkins is arrested for trespassing as he attempts to have his shoes shined a whites-only shoeshine chair.
Several white men attack a group of CORE Freedom Riders at the Greyhound Bus terminal on May 10 as they attempt to enter the whites-only waiting room.
The Freedom Riders arrive in Atlanta on May 13 and attend a reception with Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
An angry mob at the Greyhound bus terminal greets the first bus as it arrive in Anniston on May 14. The violent protesters smash windows, slash tires, and threaten the Riders.
After the Freedom Riders escape the Greyhound bus terminal mob, the bus is forced to pull over as the tires go flat. The mob resumes its attack, throwing a firebomb through a broken window.
On May 14, at the Trailways Bus terminal in Birmingham, the CORE Freedom Riders are greeted by a hostile mob. James Peck and others are severely injured in the riot that follows.
The Nashville Student Movement, led by Diane Nash, decides to send "fresh troops" of Freedom Riders to continue the cause.
Early on May 18, Bull Connor and other police officers drive the Riders under cover of darkness to Ardmore, AL. The Riders are left on the side of a road and told to go back to Nashville.
On May 20, the Freedom Riders arrive at the Greyhound terminal in Montgomery only to be met with a mob of more than 200, who attack not just the Riders, but reporters and others.
As Freedom Riders are arrested in Jackson, Mississippi in the summer of 1961, many are incarcerated at the notorious Parchman State Prison Farm.
