Breach of Peace: Portraits of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom RidersIn the spring and summer of 1961, several hundred Americans—blacks and whites, men and women—converged on Jackson, Mississippi, to challenge state segregation laws. The Freedom Riders, as they came to be known, were determined to open up the South to civil rights: it was illegal for bus and train stations to discriminate, but most did and were not interested in change. Over 300 people were arrested and convicted of the charge "breach of the peace." The name, mug shot, and other personal details of each Freedom Rider arrested were duly recorded and saved by agents of the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, a Stasi-like investigative agency whose purpose was to "perform any and all acts deemed necessary and proper to protect the sovereignty of the state of Mississippi." How the Commission thought these details would actually protect the state is not clear, but what is clear, forty-six years later, is that by carefully recording names and preserving the mug shots, the Commission inadvertently created a testament to these heroes of the civil rights movement. Collected here in a richly illustrated, large-format book featuring over seventy contemporary photographs, alongside the original mug shots, and exclusive interviews with former Freedom Riders, is that testament: a moving archive of a chapter in U.S. history that hasn't yet closed. |
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Breach of Peace: Portraits of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders Eric Etheridge No preview available - 2018 |
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active Alabama Angeles Anniston arrested Atlanta Beamer Berkeley Bernard LaFayette Birmingham BORN POLICE DEPT Brooklyn Bull Connor buses Byron Baer cell CENTRAL TRAIN CENTRAL TRAIN STATION Chicago church civil rights movement CORE chapter David Diane Nash Died father Freedom Riders gonna Graduated Grew GREYHOUND JUNE high school ILLINOIS CENTRAL TRAIN Jackie Robinson Jackson Police James James Farmer Kennedy knew KSON later Laughs look Los Angeles Mary Minneapolis Mississippi Montgomery to Jackson mother moved mug shots NAACP Nashville Nashville Student Movement Nashville to Jackson nonviolence organized Orleans Orleans to Jackson Parchman Petway Photographed February Photographed June Photographed November POLICE JACKSON protests Ralph Abernathy remember Rides Robert San Francisco segregation served sit-ins SNCC so-called Freedom Riders South Sovereignty Commission talked taught thing Thomas told Tougaloo College TRAILWAYS TRAILWAYS JULY UCLA University wanted Washington Winonah