- Civil rights activists who rode buses across state lines in the segregated South to challenge the states who were not acknowleding federal court rulings of desegregation. - First group of Freedom Riders (13) left out of Washington DC May 1961, because of the violence the group encountered on the route, they were placed under care of the US President and finished the mission by plane. Another group out of Nashville will continue the mission by bus. - Over 400 people participated in this movement in a 7 month time span - African Americans,whites,Jews, worked together in this movement- some were arrested, beaten, attacked, buses were burned, and a few paid the ultimate price with their own lives.