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The Long Journey North: The Reverse Freedom Rides of 1962

Frank Curtin/AP
Lela Mae Williams, 36, of Huttig, Ark., and seven of the nine children who arrived with her in Hyannis, Mass. Children from left to right: Eddie, Joyce, James, Shirley, Darren, Mickey and Bobby.

The Freedom Rides were a monumental event in the civil rights movement. It was summertime, in the early 60s, when black and white activists traveled through the South. Their goal was to integrate Greyhound Buses. Their story made it into the history books. But what came the next summer has largely been forgotten. Southern segregationists retaliated with the Reverse Freedom Rides.

This scheme has been so thoroughly forgotten that it was considered an urban legend by some. 

Visit here to see historical photos and documentary footage of the Reverse Freedom Riders.