English

Noun

freedom ride ‎(plural freedom rides)

1. (politics, public policy) In the United States during the 1960s, any one of a number of bus trips through parts of the southern U. S., made by groups of civil rights activists demonstrating their opposition to racial prejudice and segregation.
   • 1961, "‘Freedom Ride’ Must Continue—Rev. King," Sarasota Journal, 23 May, p. 2 (retrieved 29 Aug. 2010):

     A Negro leader said today the "freedom riders" whose arrival here touched off race riots last Saturday will continue their test of Southern bus station segregation barriers. . . . [T]he Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. . . told a news conference the group met for four hours last night and decided that "the freedom ride must continue."

2. (politics, public policy) Any one of similar excursions undertaken by protesters in Australia during the 1960s, in opposition to unfair discrimination against Aborigines.

Derived terms

• freedom rider

See also

• desegregation
• freedom march
• Jim Crow
• racial integration
• sit-in

References

• freedom ride at OneLook Dictionary Search