65 years later, a Freedom Ride bus will arrive in New Orleans
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Freedom Riders wait to board a bus in 1961. Photo: Donald Uhrbrock/Getty Images
A national bus tour commemorating the 1961 Freedom Ride is due to arrive Wednesday in New Orleans.
Why it matters: The event aims to rally voters at HBCU stops across the country and wraps up at Xavier University, which played a key role in the Civil Rights Movement.
Driving the news: The Freedom Ride will arrive in New Orleans in time for a 3:15pm program at Xavier's St. Katharine Drexel Chapel, a university spokesperson says.
- Events include a presentation on Xavier's connections to the original Freedom Ride and a tribute to civil rights activist and Freedom Rider Jerome "Big Duck" Smith, who died this fall.
- That's open to the public.
Flashback: The original Freedom Riders set out in the spring of 1961 to challenge the Jim Crow-era segregation of interstate buses.
- Led by the Congress of Racial Equality, the multiracial group of student activists encountered violence along their route, which was planned to end in New Orleans.
Yes, but: The ride never made it to the city.
- After encountering an eruption of violence in Alabama, the students boarded a plane and flew here instead.
- Once they arrived, they couldn't find a safe place to stay, so the activists found shelter on Xavier's campus, bedding down on the third floor of St. Michael's Residence Hall, the school says.
- "That moment remains an important chapter in Xavier's history and an enduring example of how the University's students and leaders have translated its mission into action," a press release says.
What they're saying: "The challenge that they put forth in 1961 led to the [1965 Voting Rights Act]," ride organizer Pastor Doug Pagitt previously told WJLA in Washington, D.C. "And we are now feeling the same need to raise the awareness. About the importance of voting, access to the voting booth, and to continue the legacy."
Between the lines: The 2026 endeavor to retrace the original Freedom Ride 65 years ago comes after the Supreme Court narrowed the Voting Rights Act in Louisiana v. Callais.
- That decision was a loss for civil rights groups and cleared the way for Republicans to undertake sweeping redistricting.