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Feburary 1, 1960
four young African-American men, students at North Carolina Agriculture and Technical College,
sit down at a whites-only lunch counter. They order coffee. Despite being denied service, they sit silently and politely at the lunch counter until closing time. Their action marks the start of the Greensboro sit-ins, which sparks similar protests all over the South. -
May 4, 1961
The CORE Freedom Ride departs Washington. Following several days of nonviolence training, 13 Freedom Riders and three journalists begin the journey on two separate buses. -
May 8–9, 1961
Joseph Perkins is arrested for trespassing as he attempts to have his shoes shined at a whites-only shoeshine chair. -
Atlanta, Georgia, May 13–14, 1961
The Freedom Riders arrive in Atlanta and attend a reception with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. -
Anniston, Alabama, May 14, 1961
An angry mob at the Greyhound bus terminal greets the first bus as it arrives in Anniston -
Nashville, Tennessee, May 16, 1961
The Nashville Student Movement, lead by Diane Nash, decides to send "fresh troops" of Freedom Riders to continue the cause. -
Ardmore, Alabama, May 18, 1961
Seven Freedom Riders who had been arrested the previous day were transported from the Birmingham jail north to the Tennessee border. -
Montgomery, Alabama, May 20–21, 1961
Escorted by Alabama state troopers, the Nashville Riders travel from Birmingham to Montgomery. At the Montgomery city limits, the troopers disperse, and the Riders arrive at the Greyhound terminal only to be met with a mob of more than 200, who attack not just the Riders, but reporters and others, leaving more than 20 seriously injured. -
Rock Hill, South Carolina, May 10, 1961
Several white men attack a group of CORE Freedom Riders at the Greyhound bus terminal on May 10 as they attempt to enter the whites-only waiting room. -
New Orleans, Louisiana, May 15, 1961
The CORE Freedom Riders finally arrive in New Orleans aboard an airplane arranged for by John Seigenthaler, a special assistant to Robert F. Kennedy. -
Jackson, Mississippi, May 24, 1961
Jackson police routinely arrest groups of Freedom Riders at the local bus terminals, airport and train stations, not under local or state segregation laws, but on the formal charges of incitement to riot, breach of peace and failure to obey a police officer.
