Exploration 6

 "Ain't scared of your jail" a 1960s movie on the Cilvil Rights Movement was very powerful and inspirational. The movie described several black students who felt out of place and felt the need for change. So the students took direct action and went after the change they were looking for. The direct action stared out art local lunch counters in downtown Nashville. The black students preformed sit-ins. They continued to sit there all day long and were not going to give-up. They dealt with physical and emotional attacks. They also had to fight through the arrests. But that didn't stop them, as soon as one group of protesters got arrested, a second group sat down, once those members got arrested a third group sat down. Law enforcement didn't know what to do. 

Once in jail the blacks were either told to pay a $50 fine or to spend 33 days in the work house. Most blacks felt like paying was giving in so the opted to work the 33 days. Blacks shut down the town. They eventually stopped spending money at white stores. This also created a riot and violence broke out. The blacks wanted to put pressure on the town so they could change the rules and regulations. Sit-ins spread to 60 cities across the nation, nearly 2,000 were arrested and a national boycott was being organized. It took one month for it to be completely affective. Those who joined the boycott were know as the "freedom riders." And that's what they were. They road until they were free.

A white male named Jim Zwerg joined the freedom riders and he was a brave young man. He was the first to step off the bus in Alabama, on stop away from Jacksonville, he was beat and beat badly. While in the hospital he said, "Segregation must be stopped. I am a freedom rider. We will continue to ride." With support of the feds and police the freedom riders made it. And they fought for what they believed in. They got the change they wanted. Diane Nash another freedom rider took her own action when asking Mayor Ben West if he thought all of this was morally right. And Mayor West thought as his own person that is was morally wrong. He set up a public announcement and said that change would be occurring, and it did. The freedom riders rode for weeks and sang and sat in jail and were arrested beat and battered but they got what the fought for. They got freedom.