JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. -

It's been 50 years since President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law. One of the people who played a role in making that happen spoke at ETSU on Monday.

When Hank Thomas stood up to speak, he started singing songs of freedom.

"Things are wonderful in this country now that I can truly say 'My Country, 'Tis Of Thee' and 'God Bless America'," he said.

In May of 1961, however, there was a much different tone.

"I may be in this university but I certainly would not be welcomed," said Thomas. "The law of the land as far as the South was concerned, every time I got aboard a bus, whether a municipal bus or an interstate bus, I was supposed to go to the back of the bus."

Thomas decided to board a bus in Washington D.C. that was headed to Louisiana to fight for desegregation. He was only 19-years-old and a sophomore at Howard University.

Thomas became one of seven "Freedom Riders" on board that bus.

When the bus got to the Alabama border, a mob was waiting. Thomas told us the crowd disabled the bus by slashing the tires.

"The bus driver could not drive the bus any further and all the windows of the bus were broken out," said Thomas. "The bus driver got off the bus and really ran for his life but we were able to lock the door so they could not get in."

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Freedom Rider remembers civil rights movement