The documentary Freedom Riders by Stanley Nelson documents the 1961 freedom rides in the American South to challenge laws enforcing segregation on public transportation. Groups of black and white riders faced violent mobs yet continued their rides to bring national attention to the injustices and ultimately advance the civil rights movement. Nelson's film aimed to honor the bravery of the freedom riders and ensure their contributions to overturning segregation are not forgotten.

1. Freedom Riders
Documentary Made by Stanley Nelson
Presentation by Jordan Mandel

2. INTRO- SUMMARY
Freedom Riders is a documentary based on the freedom rides started in 1961 to
challenge racism by riding various forms of public transportation in the south to
challenge local laws or customs that enforced segregation.
The rides were inspired by the 1947 journey of reconciliation. This was 16 men
who did exactly what the freedom riders did, only 14 years earlier.
The first freedom ride took place on May 5, 1961, this bus was led by James
Framer, and consisted of 13, riders, 7 black and 6 white.

3. NELSON’S MESSAGE
Text
Stanley Nelson’s message was, to not forget these
peoples bravery. Every person that ever went on the
Freedom rides made a huge difference and put there
lives in jeopardy to make that difference. Nelson’s
message was to never forget what the heroes of the
Freedom rides did.

4. COMMUNICATING THE MESSAGE
Stanley Nelson does a great job of communicating his
message. The films message is repeated over and over
again by the explanation of what the Freedom riders
had to go through.
The mobs that beat and nearly killed the riders, did
not win the ultimate fight which I believe is really one
of the biggest messages in the film.

5. COMMUNICATING THE MESSAGE
Text
The mobs in Anniston and Birmingham were both extremely violent, yet the
riders knew this going in. This is illustrated during interviews when each
interviewer said they knew what they were getting into but the ultimate goal was
bigger then each one of them.
Each man and women black or white on the bus, was willing to give up their life
for the ultimate cause.

6. COMMUNICATING THE MESSAGE
Text
To fully show the message, Nelson showed the true happenings in the south. From
explaining police chief Tom Cook in the situation and how he only created mobs
instead of breaking them up as he said he would do. Cook, a member of the
KKK also created mobs to meet the riders in other parts of the town.
Another large part of this scenario is Bull Connor, who was the police
commissioner and extreme racist.

7. Another way Nelsons Message is communicated is by
showing the actual pictures and video of violence no
matter how graphic. The picture above is of Jim
Zwerg, a white member of the Freedom rides who was
beaten badly in Montgomery. Zwerg continued the
rides even with his injuries

8. HOW DID STANLEY NELSON WANT THE AUDIENCE TO RESPOND?
I feel stanley Nelson wanted the audience to respond
with a new understanding of what exactly the freedom
rides were, other then just some people getting on a
bus to start trouble.
Stanley wanted to give people an easier way to
understand just how big of a deal these rides were and
how they should not be overlooked and removed as
some history is.
I feel that Stanley wants the audience to realize that
the freedom riders were heroes in every sense and
were willing to give up their lives for the cause, just as
heroes would.

9. EXPLANATION OF THE SOURCES
Text Text Text Text
The resources that were used in the film were mainly interviews from actual
Freedom Riders
The sources were just memories that the riders were recalling from there time on
the bus and the different situations they were in.
Text Text
Text Text

10. ESSENTIAL QUESTION
WHAT ARE THE ROLES OF THESE INDIVIDUALS IN THE MODERN
WORLD?
Text
I feel that the roles of the Freedom riders in the modern world is to spread there
knowledge of what happened to them and what they saw.
The role of the Freedom Riders in the modern world should be to explain how
they felt and how they dealt with situations. There role is to explain what they did
to be heroes and teach others why they did it, to explain the motivation they had.

11. ESSENTIAL QUESTION
IS THE TRUTH DEPENDENT UPON PLACE, CULTURE AND TIME?
I do not think in the Freedom Riders situation the
truth is dependent upon place, culture and time. The
truth in this case is the same everywhere. The violence
in the south was happening and it was wrong. There
truly were mobs that were out to kill innocent people
just because of their beliefs and skin color
The truth is that the freedom rides did make a
difference, and it was during a time when the police
were also the ones who were the racist as well as the
instigators of some of the most violent mobs.

12. ESSENTIAL QUESTION
HOW HAVE THESE CHOICES HAD A LOCAL IMPACT
The idea of a Freedom ride has been very large news
since it happened. The Rides led to more awareness as
well as a message of “ There will be no giving up”.
The freedom rides had a huge impact locally in the
U.S. Globally there was not as much of an impact, yet
it still influenced the end to segregation in many ways.

13. QUESTIONS AFTER SEEING
DOCUMENTARY
Text
What consequences did Bull Connor as well as any person who organized mobs
receive?
Have there been any freedom rides since the ones that happened during the
1960’s
Did MLK jr. loose much support for refusing to be involved in the freedom rides?

14. CONCLUSION
Text
The Freedom Rides were both courageous and useful for spreading awareness.
This documentary was both entertaining and shed light on racism in the south
that still exist to this day.
This documentary highlights the heroics of ordinary people who knew they had
to make a difference and battled powerful people and all odds to finish there rides,
while spreading there message along the way

15. THE END