“Make the country better for those yet unborn who will never know the seat you took, the ride you rode, the risk you accepted, the fare you paid, the change you made.”
This quote appears in the 2021 memoir—“The Buses are A’ Comin’; Memoir of a Freedom Rider”—by the late Charles Person (co-author Richard Rooker).
Person was the youngest of the original 13 Freedom Riders and he certainly accepted risk and “paid his fare.” He came to believe that non-violent collective civic action is the best way to create meaningful change. He was just a kid himself when he first stood up to protest the injustice he saw around him, and in later years he would focus his message at the youth of this country.
Born September 27, 1942 in Atlanta, Georgia, Person was an excellent student, displaying a gift for math and science. He gained acceptance to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) but his family did not have the funds to send him there. In addition, his application to the all-white Georgia Institute of Technology was denied. He was angry at this roadblock and his grandfather admonished him not to get stuck but to “do something,” and that was a mantra that he carried forward in his life.
Person attended the historically black college (HBCU) Morehouse, where he became involved in the Atlanta Student Movement. “I remember our first march,” he said in a 2023 interview with Learning for Justice. “We were singing freedom songs, silent, in a low key. We weren’t yelling and screaming …and I know we made an impression on the city.”
Person next participated in the city’s sit-in movement, the goal of which was to integrate Atlanta lunch counters. He spent 16 days in jail, but rather than deterring him, this experience seemed to encourage his desire to make an impact. Person soon left school to participate in two weeks of training in nonviolent resistance, led by James Farmer of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).
CORE was founded in 1942 by an interracial group of Chicago students, who helped popularize the use of nonviolent direct action to effect change. CORE organized the very first of the Freedom Rides, called the Journey of Reconciliation, which traveled through the upper South in 1947. This initial ride was met with some arrests but little violence.
Although the Supreme Court had ruled in 1956 that segregation on interstate buses and in terminals was unconstitutional, this practice was still very much enforced in the South. When CORE began looking for people to participate in the 1961 Freedom Rides, Person says that he was intrigued by an opportunity to fight segregation in another sector. He was only 18 years old when the buses departed Washington, DC on May 4.
The small interracial group—seven Black and six white riders—was led by James Farmer and included John Lewis. This first wave of riders boarded two Trailways buses in D.C. with an intention to ride to New Orleans. The riders have described that although they met with jeering and threats, they also had support, and several families and churches fed, and housed them along the way. Things took a bad turn when they got into the deeper South.
In South Carolina, Person and others were first attacked at the Greyhound terminal, then met even worse violence in Anniston, Alabama. One of the two buses was lit on fire and burned down to a shell, its riders narrowly escaping harm. Later that day, the bus that Person was on was boarded by a group of Klansmen who hit and kicked a few of the riders, including Person himself, while a police officer stood aside and did nothing. Later that afternoon, in Birmingham, the riders were beaten again by white men with bats and pipes. Person’s head was cut open.
Although photos were taken and the participants in this mob were later identified, they were not convicted. However, the horrible violence brought greater attention to the movement. By summer, there were over 400 individuals participating in the Freedom Rides. The buses and stations in the South were more formally desegregated in November with the Interstate Commerce Commission ruling.
Person told Learning for Justice, “Some of the things we were confronted with – it’s just amazing how we even dealt with them. And sometimes it brings nightmares. Sometimes it brings you to tears. But all in all, you knew that it was a worthwhile cause.”
Person did not participate further in the civil rights movement, choosing to serve his country by instead joining the Marine Corps and ultimately going to Vietnam. After retirement from the Marines, Person worked for the Atlanta School Department as an electronics technician. For years, he did not say much about his civil rights action in the early 1960s. But eventually, Person began to see that he still had a role in the movement for racial equality. He saw that although a great deal had improved, there was still much work to be done. Person began to share his stories.
One of Person’s recent projects was the co-founding in 2021 of the Freedom Riders Training Institute (FRTI), to “teach young people how to protest legally, effectively, peacefully.” Students, demonstrators, and law enforcement will be able to avail themselves of training, providing opportunities for justice reform and promoting peaceful protest and reconciliation. At the time of his death, Person was working on getting the FRTI website up and running, which is expected in the near future.
Charles Person took up public speaking in later life. “Whenever I have the chance to speak to young people,” Person said in a 2024 interview, “I tell them that they can change the world. I hope they listen, not only to me, but to anyone who tells them that they have the power to make the world a better place.” [Interview published 1/3/2024; AARP]
Upon his death at the beginning of this year, Person’s wife Jo Etta said that her husband’s “passion for nonviolence, peace, and education touched countless lives.”
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