Freedom Rider Diary by Silver Carol Ruth;Arsenault Raymond;Liggins Claude A.;Gaines Cherie A.;

Author:Silver, Carol Ruth;Arsenault, Raymond;Liggins, Claude A.;Gaines, Cherie A.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
Published: 2014-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

AND OFF

Wednesday, July 19, 1961, continued

At 4:30 p.m., I left New Orleans for Houston, Laredo, and Mexico City. Shirley, Alice, Jean, and Jerome Smith came down to see me off. All of us walked into the Greyhound bus station wearing buttons which said “Freedom Ride CORE.” I already had my ticket, but when I asked for a timetable, the clerk looked up, gave me the schedule, and, as I stood there for a moment with my four Negro friends checking the time for the next bus, we saw him rush to the back and start dialing the telephone. We killed about fifteen minutes having coffee at the terminal lunch counter, the only integrated restaurant in downtown New Orleans, and by the time my bus was called half a dozen policemen had drifted into the station. I finished my coffee under their attentive eyes, bid a warm farewell to the Thompsons and Jerome, and waved to them as the bus pulled out of the station. Once again I was under way.

The first thing I did, when we were barely out of New Orleans, was to remove my “Freedom Ride CORE” button. It was a cowardly act but I was feeling very much alone in enemy territory. And the second thing I did was go to sleep, because the late hours and physical exertion of the past few days had quite tired me out—I had not yet gotten reaccustomed to spending my days in activity more strenuous than lying on my stomach napping and daydreaming.

When I woke up, in the middle of the night, I had the very strong feeling that my great adventure was finally over. Even my time in New Orleans seemed long ago and far away, and Jackson, Mississippi, felt like ancient history.

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