Last updated: July 1, 2021
Place
Anniston Trailways Station
NPS Photo/Max Farley
Quick Facts
Location:
900 Noble Street
Significance:
Site of attack on Trailways group of Freedom Riders
Designation:
Anniston Civil Rights Heritage Trail
MANAGED BY:
Amenities
1 listed
Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits
"Throughout the first half of the 20th century, race relations in the South were dominated by local 'Jim Crow' laws. Although in 1960 the Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation violated the Interstate Commerce Act, local laws persisted."
"When a desegregated bus carrying black and white 'Freedom Riders' arrived at the Trailways Bus Station in Anniston on this date, a group of young white men came aboard to enforce segregated seating: whites in front, blacks in back. The men beat the Riders, forcing them to segregate. After police intervened, the bus continued to Birmingham with the badly injured Freedom Riders kept separated by their attackers."
- Trailways Bus Station Attack Marker, City of Anniston Historic Trails Program (2016)
"When a desegregated bus carrying black and white 'Freedom Riders' arrived at the Trailways Bus Station in Anniston on this date, a group of young white men came aboard to enforce segregated seating: whites in front, blacks in back. The men beat the Riders, forcing them to segregate. After police intervened, the bus continued to Birmingham with the badly injured Freedom Riders kept separated by their attackers."
- Trailways Bus Station Attack Marker, City of Anniston Historic Trails Program (2016)