Video: 'The Heinous 1961 KKK Attack on the Freedom Riders'

(Thursday, May 4, 1961; part of the Civil Rights Movement) — Thirteen members of the interracial “Freedom Riders” group, including 21-year-old John Lewis, boarded regular interstate Greyhound and Trailways buses today in Washington, D.C., and headed for the Deep South to challenge the non-enforcement of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Boynton v. Virginia (1960), which declared segregation in interstate bus and rail stations unconstitutional.

Video: 'AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: Freedom Riders: The Strategy'

Their plan was to ride through Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, ending in New Orleans, Louisiana, where a civil rights rally was planned.