Freedom Riders Museum Opens In Alabama

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Montgomery’s former Greyhound Bus Station is reopening as a museum honoring the Freedom Riders on the 50th anniversary of the day they were attacked in Alabama’s capital city.

Several of the original Freedom Riders are attending the dedication Friday. One of them, Jim Zwerg of Tucson, Ariz., says the new museum is an impressive recounting of what they went through five decades ago.

The Freedom Riders were trying to integrate Southern bus stations when they arrived in Montgomery on May 20, 1961. They were beaten by an angry white mob. No law enforcement officers were on hand.

The new museum is a few blocks from some of Montgomery’s other civil rights attractions, including the Rosa Parks Library, the Civil Rights Memorial and the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church.

WATCH THE PBS FREEDOM RIDERS DOCUMENTARY

Freedom Rider Betty Roseman Speaks On The “Civil Rights Fight”

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