Freedom Rider continues fight for justice

By Whitney Evans

January 23rd, 2015 @ 7:58am

SALT LAKE CITY While being jailed during her fight for human rights, one woman transcribed her experiences on any scrap of paper she could find.

Carol Ruth Silver, one of the original Freedom Riders, spent 40 days in jail in Jackson, Mississippi, in June 1961 for her involvement with the movement.

After her release, Silver transcribed her notes to family members, who typed them up. Her thoughts sat in storage in her mother's garage in Los Angeles for decades. More than 50 years after her release, "Freedom Riders Diary: Smuggled Notes from Parchman Prison" was published in early 2014.

Silver spoke to a group at the Jewish Community Center on Wednesday about what led her to join the group and her experiences as a Freedom Rider. She also appealed to those gathered to continue to fight for justice.

Silver's speech came days after Martin Luther King Jr. Day and shortly before Black History Month.

The interracial Freedom Riders rode interstate buses into the then-segregated southern states after U.S. Supreme Court rulings in 1946 (Irene Morgan v. The Commonwealth of Virginia) and 1960 (Boynton v. Virginia) came down against segregation in interstate buses, terminals and restrooms.

To test the rulings, a group of civil activists traveled on buses, first through the upper south and later through the lower south.

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Freedom Rider continues fight for justice