freedom riders assignment

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Freedom Riders

By: History.com Editors

Updated: January 20, 2022 | Original: February 2, 2010

Freedom Riders were groups of white and African American civil rights activists who participated in Freedom Rides, bus trips through the American South in 1961 to protest segregated bus terminals. Freedom Riders tried to use “whites-only” restrooms and lunch counters at bus stations in Alabama, South Carolina and other Southern states. The groups were confronted by arresting police officers—as well as horrific violence from white protestors—along their routes, but also drew international attention to the civil rights movement.

Civil Rights Activists Test Supreme Court Decision

The 1961 Freedom Rides, organized by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) , were modeled after the organization’s 1947 Journey of Reconciliation. During the 1947 action, African American and white bus riders tested the 1946 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Morgan v. Virginia that found segregated bus seating was unconstitutional.

The 1961 Freedom Rides sought to test a 1960 decision by the Supreme Court in Boynton v. Virginia that segregation of interstate transportation facilities, including bus terminals, was unconstitutional as well. A big difference between the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation and the 1961 Freedom Rides was the inclusion of women in the later initiative.

In both actions, Black riders traveled to the Jim Crow South—where segregation continued to occur—and attempted to use whites-only restrooms, lunch counters and waiting rooms.

The original group of 13 Freedom Riders—seven African Americans and six whites—left Washington, D.C. , on a Greyhound bus on May 4, 1961. Their plan was to reach New Orleans , Louisiana , on May 17 to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision, which ruled that segregation of the nation’s public schools was unconstitutional.

The group traveled through Virginia and North Carolina , drawing little public notice. The first violent incident occurred on May 12 in Rock Hill, South Carolina . John Lewis , an African American seminary student and member of the SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), white Freedom Rider and World War II veteran Albert Bigelow and another Black rider were viciously attacked as they attempted to enter a whites-only waiting area.

The next day, the group reached Atlanta, Georgia , where some of the riders split off onto a Trailways bus.

Did you know? John Lewis, one of the original group of 13 Freedom Riders, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in November 1986. Lewis, a Democrat, continued to represent Georgia's 5th Congressional District, which includes Atlanta, until his death in 2020.

Freedom Riders Face Bloodshed in Alabama

On May 14, 1961, the Greyhound bus was the first to arrive in Anniston, Alabama . There, an angry mob of about 200 white people surrounded the bus, causing the driver to continue past the bus station.

The mob followed the bus in automobiles, and when the tires on the bus blew out, someone threw a bomb into the bus. The Freedom Riders escaped the bus as it burst into flames, only to be brutally beaten by members of the surrounding mob.

The second bus, a Trailways vehicle, traveled to Birmingham, Alabama, and those riders were also beaten by an angry white mob, many of whom brandished metal pipes. Birmingham Public Safety Commissioner Bull Connor stated that, although he knew the Freedom Riders were arriving and violence awaited them, he posted no police protection at the station because it was Mother’s Day .

Photographs of the burning Greyhound bus and the bloodied riders appeared on the front pages of newspapers throughout the country and around the world the next day, drawing international attention to the Freedom Riders’ cause and the state of race relations in the United States.

Following the widespread violence, CORE officials could not find a bus driver who would agree to transport the integrated group, and they decided to abandon the Freedom Rides. However, Diane Nash , an activist from the SNCC, organized a group of 10 students from Nashville, Tennessee , to continue the rides.

U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy , brother of President John F. Kennedy , began negotiating with Governor John Patterson of Alabama and the bus companies to secure a driver and state protection for the new group of Freedom Riders. The rides finally resumed, on a Greyhound bus departing Birmingham under police escort, on May 20.

Federal Marshals Called In

The violence toward the Freedom Riders was not quelled—rather, the police abandoned the Greyhound bus just before it arrived at the Montgomery, Alabama, terminal, where a white mob attacked the riders with baseball bats and clubs as they disembarked. Attorney General Kennedy sent 600 federal marshals to the city to stop the violence.

The following night, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr . led a service at the First Baptist Church in Montgomery, which was attended by more than one thousand supporters of the Freedom Riders. A riot ensued outside the church, and King called Robert Kennedy to ask for protection.

Kennedy summoned the federal marshals, who used tear gas to disperse the white mob. Patterson declared martial law in the city and dispatched the National Guard to restore order.

Kennedy Urges ‘Cooling Off’ Period 

On May 24, 1961, a group of Freedom Riders departed Montgomery for Jackson, Mississippi . There, several hundred supporters greeted the riders. However, those who attempted to use the whites-only facilities were arrested for trespassing and taken to the maximum-security penitentiary in Parchman, Mississippi.

That same day, U.S. Attorney General Kennedy issued a statement urging a “cooling off” period in the face of the growing violence:

“A very difficult condition exists now in the states of Mississippi and Alabama. Besides the groups of 'Freedom Riders' traveling through these states, there are curiosity seekers, publicity seekers and others who are seeking to serve their own causes, as well as many persons who are traveling because they must use the interstate carriers to reach their destination.

In this confused situation, there is increasingly possibility that innocent persons may be injured. A mob asks no questions.

A cooling off period is needed. It would be wise for those traveling through these two Sites to delay their trips until the present state of confusion and danger has passed and an atmosphere of reason and normalcy has been restored.” 

During the Mississippi hearings, the judge turned and looked at the wall rather than listen to the Freedom Riders’ defense—as had been the case when sit-in participants were arrested for protesting segregated lunch counters in Tennessee. He sentenced the riders to 30 days in jail.

Attorneys from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP ), a civil rights organization, appealed the convictions all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court , which reversed them.

Desegregating Travel

The violence and arrests continued to garner national and international attention, and drew hundreds of new Freedom Riders to the cause.

The rides continued over the next several months, and in the fall of 1961, under pressure from the Kennedy administration, the Interstate Commerce Commission issued regulations prohibiting segregation in interstate transit terminals.

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LESSON PLAN

The freedom rides.

Pairing a Primary & Secondary Source

Read the Article

Sixty years ago, young activists embarked on a journey through the Deep South that changed the nation.

Before reading.

1. Set Focus Pose this essential question: What prompts people to risk their lives for a cause ?

2. List Vocabulary Share some of the challenging vocabulary words in the article (see below) . Encourage students to use context to infer meanings as they read.

• tenacity (p. 19)
• entrenched (p. 19)
• civil disobedience (p. 19)
• chaos (p. 20)
• rhetoric (p. 21)
• reckoning (p. 21)

3. Engage Have students share what they know about the Freedom Rides. To prompt discussion ask: What movement were the Freedom Rides a part of? Where did they take place? Who participated in them? What dangers did participants endure? What did they help achieve?

Analyze the Article

4. Read and Discuss Ask students to read the Upfront article about the Freedom Rides. Review why the article is a secondary source. (It was written by someone who didn’t personally experience or witness the events.) Then pose these critical-thinking questions::

• What were the Freedom Riders working to achieve? What tactic did they use to achieve their goal? (In general, they were working to make the U.S. a more equal society. Specifically, they were trying to cause the federal government to enforce the Supreme Court rulings of 1946 and 1960 that desegregated waiting rooms in interstate rail and bus terminals. The Freedom Riders achieved their goal by risking arrest and violence to take buses to and enter Whites-only waiting rooms in Southern states.)  
• Ann Bausum says, “The struggle for equality wasn’t just a Black problem, it was an American problem.” What does she mean? How did this conflict of ideas result in federal support of the civil rights movement? (She means that as long as segregation existed and civil rights activists were arrested and beaten, the nation could not claim to be a beacon of democracy or be an admirable world leader. This conflict of ideas caused President Kennedy to support the activists with federal marshals and National Guard troops.)
• Why did Martin Luther King Jr. choose not to join the Freedom Riders? Do you agree with his decision? (King chose not to join the Freedom Riders because he was on probation for a bogus traffic arrest. He was concerned that he would be arrested on the Freedom Rides and locked up for months, which would prevent him from effectively leading the movement. Opinions will vary but should be well supported.)
• Why do you think the Freedom Riders and other civil rights activists chose to protest in nonviolent ways? Would they have been as successful if their protests had been violent? (Nonviolent tactics allowed the activists to maintain the moral upper hand and helped put a spotlight on the vicious treatment they received by those who attacked them. Opinions about violent methods will vary.)

5. Use the Primary Sources

Project or distribute the PDF Inhuman Conditions , which features excerpts from an oral history by Frederick Leonard, a Freedom Rider, about being arrested at the bus terminal in Jackson, Mississippi. Discuss what makes the oral history a primary source. (It provides firsthand evidence concerning the topic.) Have students read the excerpts and answer the questions below (which appear on the PDF without answers).

• Based on the first few lines of the excerpts, what happened in Montgomery? What mood did that set? (Based on the first few lines, you can infer that White people were violent toward the Freedom Riders in Montgomery. Leonard says that the governor of Mississippi had promised that there would be no violence, but they couldn’t believe that because of “what happened in Alabama.” Leonard elaborates that Mississippi had a reputation of being one of the worst Southern states in terms of civil rights, so the Freedom Riders were expecting more violence. This expectation set an extremely tense and fearful mood on the bus.)
• What contrast does Leonard describe in the section about the judge turning his back? (Leonard contrasts the expectations of the Freedom Riders’ attorney with the behavior of the judge. The attorney expected his clients to be treated like human beings in court but the judge treated them as if they didn’t exist and were not worthy of being looked at. He also sentenced them as if his mind was made up before the defense.)
• Which details in the excerpts support the idea that Parchman Farm was an inhuman place? (The details about the guards taking away the mattresses—leaving the activists to sleep on steel—as a punishment for singing support the idea that Parchman Farm was an inhuman place. The details about the guards having a Black inmate beat Leonard to get his mattress also supports this idea.) 
• What does Leonard mean when he says “It hurt Peewee more than it hurt me”? (Leonard means that the emotional pain Peewee had to endure in being forced to beat up a Black activist—who was fighting for changes that ultimately would be beneficial to Peewee—hurt him more than Leonard was hurt physically by the beating.)
• Based on the Upfront article and the excerpts from Leonard’s oral history, why do you think the Freedom Rides inspired more civil rights activism in the years that followed? (Students’ responses will vary but should be supported with evidence from both texts.)

Extend & Assess

6. Writing Prompt Changes in laws often change people’s attitudes. Write a brief essay explaining whether you agree or disagree. Support your points with details from the article and other sources.

7. Quiz Use the quiz to assess comprehension.

8. Classroom Debate Divide the class to engage in a key debate of the civil rights era: whether to work through the courts and be patient or use nonviolent civil disobedience.

9. Multimedia Presentations Have students, independently or in pairs, research and create a multimedia presentation about a civil rights activist (e.g., James Farmer, Diane Nash). Have students share their presentations in class or post on a class website.

Download a PDF of this Lesson Plan

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Bell Ringer: Freedom Riders

Description.

Dorothy Walker told the story of the Freedom Riders and their trip from Washington, D.C. through the South to challenge illegal segregation laws related to interstate travel. Many travelers were attacked and arrested along their journey in 1961.

Bell Ringer Assignment

• When did the Freedom Rides occur in the timeline of the Civil Rights Movement?
• What were the methods and goals of the Freedom Rides?
• What concerns did Martin Luther King, Jr. have for the Freedom Riders?
• Describe the different experiences and confrontations that the Freedom Riders had in the different cities throughout the journey.
• What was Judge Frank M Johnson's ruling on the Freedom Rides? What happened as a result of this ruling?
• Explain the results and effects of the Freedom Rides.

Participants

• Boynton V. Georgia
• Brown V. Board Of Education
• Freedom Rides
• Integration
• Martin Luther King
• Segregation

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Who Were the Freedom Riders?

Representative John Lewis was among the 13 original Freedom Riders, who encountered violence and resistance as they rode buses across the South, challenging the nation’s segregation laws.

By Derrick Bryson Taylor

Representative John Lewis, who died on Friday at 80 , was an imposing figure in American politics and the civil rights movement. But his legacy of confronting racism directly, while never swaying from his commitment to nonviolence, started long before he became a national figure.

Mr. Lewis, a Georgia Democrat, was among the original 13 Freedom Riders who rode buses across the South in 1961 to challenge segregation in public transportation. The riders were attacked and beaten, and one of their buses was firebombed, but the rides changed the way people traveled and set the stage for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

How did the Freedom Rides start?

In 1947, the Congress of Racial Equality, known as CORE, created a “Journey of Reconciliation” to draw attention to racial segregation in public transportation in Southern cities and states across the United States. That movement was only moderately successful, but it led to the Freedom Rides of 1961, which forever changed the way Americans traveled between states.

The Freedom Rides, which began in May 1961 and ended late that year, were organized by CORE’s national director, James Farmer. The mission of the rides was to test compliance with two Supreme Court rulings: Boynton v. Virginia, which declared that segregated bathrooms, waiting rooms and lunch counters were unconstitutional, and Morgan vs. Virginia, in which the court ruled that it was unconstitutional to implement and enforce segregation on interstate buses and trains. The Freedom Rides took place as the Civil Rights movement was gathering momentum, and during a period in which African-Americans were routinely harassed and subjected to segregation in the Jim Crow South.

Who were the first 13 Freedom Riders?

The original Freedom Riders were 13 Black and white men and women of various ages from across the United States.

Raymond Arsenault, a Civil Rights historian and the author “ Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice ,” said CORE had advertised for participants and asked for applications. “They wanted a geographic distribution and age distribution,” he said.

Among those chosen were the Rev. Benjamin Elton Cox , a minister from High Point, N.C., and Charles Person of Atlanta, then a freshman at Morehouse College in Atlanta, who was the youngest of the group at 18. “They had antinuclear activists; they had a husband-and-wife team from Michigan,” Mr. Arsenault said of the diverse group of participants.

Mr. Lewis, then 21, represented the Nashville movement, which staged demonstrations at department stores and sit-ins at lunch counters. But Mr. Lewis nearly missed his opportunity, according to his 1998 autobiography, “Walking With the Wind.” After receiving his bus ticket to Washington, D.C., from CORE, Mr. Lewis was driven to the bus station by two friends, James Bevel and Bernard Lafayette. He arrived to find that his scheduled bus had already departed. “We threw my bag back in Bevel’s car, floored it east and caught up in Murfreesboro,” Mr. Lewis said.

The original group completed a few days of training in Washington, Mr. Arsenault said, preparing by role-playing to respond in nonviolent ways to the harassment that they would endure.

As the movement grew, so did the number of participants. Later in May, in Jackson, Miss., Mr. Lewis and hundreds of other protesters were arrested and hastily convicted of breach of peace. Many of the Freedom Riders spent six weeks in prison, sweltering in filthy, vermin-infested cells.

What was the first ride like?

On May 4, 1961, the first crew of 13 Freedom Riders left Washington for New Orleans in two buses. The group encountered some resistance in Virginia, but they didn’t encounter violence until they arrived in Rock Hill, S.C. At the bus station there, Mr. Lewis and another rider were beaten, and a third person was arrested after using a whites-only restroom.

When they reached Anniston, Ala., on May 14, Mother’s Day, they were met by an angry mob. Local officials had given the Ku Klux Klan permission to attack the riders without consequences. The first bus was firebombed outside Anniston while the mob held the door closed. The passengers were beaten as they fled the burning bus.

When the second bus reached Anniston, eight Klansmen boarded it and attacked and beat the Freedom Riders. The bus managed to continue on to Birmingham, Ala., where the passengers were again attacked at a bus terminal, this time with baseball bats, iron pipes and bicycle chains.

At one point during the rides, Mr. Lewis and others were attacked by a mob of white people in Montgomery, Ala., and he was left unconscious in a pool of his own blood outside the Greyhound Bus Terminal. He was jailed several times and spent a month in Mississippi’s notorious Parchman Penitentiary.

The attacks received widespread attention in the news media, but they pushed Mr. Farmer to end the initial campaign. The Freedom Riders finished their journey to New Orleans by plane.

Many more Freedom Rides followed over the next several months. Ultimately, 436 riders participated in more than 60 Freedom Rides, Mr. Arsenault said.

Were the rides a success?

On May 29, 1961, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy petitioned the Interstate Commerce Commission to ban segregation in interstate bus travel, according to PBS . The order, which was issued on Sept. 22 and went into effect on Nov. 1, led to the removal of Jim Crow signs from stations, waiting rooms, water fountains and restrooms in bus terminals.

Three years later, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended segregation in public spaces across the United States.

How did the Freedom Rides influence Mr. Lewis’s career?

Mr. Lewis attained a particular status as a civil rights activist because he had been arrested and beaten so many times, Mr. Arsenault said.

“He was absolutely fearless and courageous, totally committed,” he said. “People knew that he always had their back and that they could count on him. He had an incorruptible commitment to nonviolence.”

In 1963, Mr. Lewis became the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and helped to organize the March on Washington, where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.

“That whole experience and in his role with the Freedom Riders really consolidated his reputation as this fearless civil rights activist who really had a strategic sense of the power of nonviolence,” said Kevin Gaines, the Julian Bond professor of civil rights and social justice at the University of Virginia. “Lewis really emerged among a group of impressive and very effective civil rights leaders.”

Derrick Bryson Taylor is a general assignment reporter on the Express Desk. He previously worked at The New York Post's PageSix.com and Essence magazine. More about Derrick Bryson Taylor

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JFK, Freedom Riders, and the Civil Rights Movement

Images of Freedom Riders at the Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, Georgia.

Wikimedia Commons

"I was an original 'Freedom Rider.' I was attacked and beaten by the Klu Klux Klan [sic] in Alabama; and I walked among the giants of the Civil Rights Movement and I felt at home. The lumps and bruises on my head are a daily reminder of my commitment and my obligations." — Charles Person, "My Reflection of Years Gone By" 

Most lessons on the 1960s Civil Rights Movement focus on key national leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and President John F. Kennedy. This lesson is no exception; however, it will also look at less well-known members of the civil rights struggle: those whose courageous actions triggered a federal response. This lesson will help students learn more about these members of the grassroots civil rights struggle through the use of primary documents, audio sources, and photographs.

The first part of this lesson focuses on the Freedom Riders . It demonstrates the critical role of activists in pushing the Kennedy Administration to face the contradiction between its ideals and the realities of federal politics. In this case, the Kennedy Administration finally acted in defense of individual rights at the risk of offending powerful Southern politicians.

The second activity revisits the famous Birmingham Movement of 1963. It allows students to learn something about the grassroots protests against segregation and exclusion, the reaction of Alabama and Birmingham officials, and President Kennedy's public response-a renewed commitment to civil rights.

Finally, the 1963 March on Washington remains a touchstone of the Civil Rights Movement, and the "I Have A Dream Speech" will be familiar to teachers and students. Here, that speech is contextualized by three other speeches: President Kennedy's June 11, 1963 speech on civil rights, the John Lewis speech given at the March (in the slightly censored version demanded on the day of the March), and a Malcolm X speech critiquing the March. Collectively, these readings will give students a fuller perspective on the "I Have a Dream" speech, one shaped by the diverse viewpoints of contemporaries.

Guiding Questions

Why did the issue of civil rights divide people in the U.S.?

Whose approach to advancing civil rights appears most plausible?

Why do the speeches and perspectives regarding civil rights in the U.S. given at the time remain relevant today?

Learning Objectives

Evaluate the significance of the Freedom Rides, the 1963 Birmingham Movement, and the 1963 March on Washington to the civil rights movement.

Analyze the speeches and competing perspectives regarding how to establish civil rights protections in the U.S.

Analyze and evaluate the relationship between civil rights activists and the Federal Government.

Lesson Plan Details

Much of The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and '60s hinged on the relationship between grass roots activists, segregationist state and local governments, and a Federal Government bound (sometimes ambivalently) to uphold the Constitution. These lessons examine this relationship first of all with a look at the Freedom Rides. Student activists from the newly-formed Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the older Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) launched the Freedom Rides in 1961 , challenging and helping to destroy Jim Crow . By traveling as a racially integrated group on interstate buses through the South, the Freedom Riders sought to confront the Southern state authorities who enforced segregation, and to pressure the Federal Government to implement the Supreme Court ruling in Boynton v. Virginia (1960) that outlawed segregation in interstate travel.

Riding from Washington, DC to Montgomery, Alabama, the Freedom Riders were violently attacked by white segregationist mobs. Several riders were brutally beaten and some were permanently injured, but the rides continued as new students and activists took the place of those forced to drop out because of their injuries. Widespread media coverage of assaults on the riders gripped the nation and played a role in pushing the Kennedy Administration to intervene on the riders' behalf. After a summer in which the Federal Justice Department struggled to accommodate the conflicting demands of the Civil Rights activists and Southern politicians, the Federal Interstate Commerce Commission outlawed segregation in interstate bus travel in a much more detailed and forceful manner than the Supreme Court had. The Freedom Rides had achieved their aim .

However, the Freedom Rides gave rise to friction within the movement between the student protesters who became the backbone of the rides and Martin Luther King, Jr., who actively supported the rides, but did not directly participate. They also heightened tensions between the Kennedy Administration and the increasingly militant student wing of the movement, which viewed the administration's willingness to compromise with Southern politicians with great suspicion.

Despite the assistance of black and pro-civil rights voters in winning the 1960 Presidential Election, Kennedy had done little to push civil rights in his first year in office. Violence surrounding civil rights protests in the South, however, spurred him to action on the side of the growing movement. The Freedom Rides and attempts to integrate southern state universities prompted him to deploy federal marshals in defense of blacks demanding equal rights. Yet perhaps the most decisive influence on President Kennedy's civil rights agenda were the civil rights protests that rocked the city of Birmingham in 1963 and garnered worldwide attention. The shock and outrage that followed television and newspaper images of police dogs and fire hoses attacking black children and the racial violence that accompanied the protests made Kennedy feel that broad federal civil rights legislation was necessary. On June 11, 1963, he spoke to the country in a televised address in which he asked the American people to support the strongest civil rights bill since the Reconstruction Era.

To show that this bill had widespread support and to press their own demands further onto the national political agenda, civil rights groups around the country mobilized in support of a March on Washington on August 28, 1963. Today, the March is remembered primarily for the memorable speech that Martin Luther King gave on that day, known as the "I Have a Dream" speech.

It is important to understand, however, that the same historically creative tensions that marked events such as the Freedom Rides played an important role in the March's organization, program, and impact. The Kennedy Administration, Martin Luther King, and the militant student civil rights activists supported the March's overall demands, but they differed significantly in their assessment of the political landscape surrounding the March. In fact, the Kennedy Administration had initially opposed the idea of the March. There was also an ongoing mistrust of federal power within the black community, personified at that moment by black nationalists such as Malcolm X. These contrasting perspectives would continue to exercise influence as the civil rights movement grew and diversified.

NCSS.D2.His.1.9-12. Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts.

NCSS.D2.His.2.9-12. Analyze change and continuity in historical eras.

NCSS.D2.His.3.9-12. Use questions generated about individuals and groups to assess how the significance of their actions changes over time and is shaped by the historical context.

NCSS.D2.His.4.9-12. Analyze complex and interacting factors that influenced the perspectives of people during different historical eras.

NCSS.D2.His.14.9-12. Analyze multiple and complex causes and effects of events in the past.

NCSS.D2.His.15.9-12. Distinguish between long-term causes and triggering events in developing a historical argument.

NCSS.D2.His.16.9-12. Integrate evidence from multiple relevant historical sources and interpretations into a reasoned argument about the past.

The following EDSITEMENT-reviewed websites provide helpful background material to review before teaching this lesson:

• The PBS film and website  Freedom Riders partially funded by NEH (above),  is devoted to telling the story of the 400 black and white Americans who risked their lives—and many endured savage beatings and imprisonment—for simply traveling together on buses and trains as they journeyed through the Deep South.
• The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History an EDSITEment-reviewed website has an entire issue of their journal History Now devoted to the civil rights movement with essays, lesson plans and an interactive jukebox. For this lesson, the James T. Patterson essay " The Civil Rights Movement: Major Events and Legacies " provides an excellent general background. Anthony J. Badger's essay " Different Perspectives on the Civil Rights Movement " evaluates new trends in research which are putting civil rights successes in a different light.
• The major events and people covered in this lesson are described in short, informative entries at the EDSITEment-reviewed Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project . Recommended entries for this lesson include the Freedom Rides (1961), the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (1963), and the Birmingham Campaign (1963). You may also wish to read entries about John Lewis, Malcolm X, John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.
• If you wish to know more about John F. Kennedy and civil rights, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library presents an essay describing Southern race relations from the founding of the United States up to Kennedy's Administration. If you'd like to skip to the early 1960s section, just read pages three to four. This page is linked to the EDSITEment-reviewed American President.org. The PBS documentary Freedom Riders also hosts a brief summary of President Kennedy's role in the early Civil Rights Movement.
• The site SNCC: 1960-1966 presents the early history of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. It has articles on the Freedom Rides and John Lewis which are especially pertinent for this lesson. If you will be using civil rights to open up a discussion of other 1960s movements, you can also explore SNCC's connection to the feminism and Vietnam War protests in the website's Issues section . 

Activity 1. The Kennedy Administration's Record on Civil Rights

In this initial step, students learn background information through doing two readings before going on to the next activities. They are asked to take notes on the reading.

For homework, students should read an online summary of President Kennedy's civil rights record , from the EDSITEment-reviewed Center for History and New Media website, and the King Encyclopedia entry on the Freedom Rides . Additionally, students should consult the PBS documentary Freedom Riders for background on the issues faced by the Freedom Rides campaign .

Students should take notes on what they read, listing:

• the actions that the Kennedy Administration took regarding civil rights and the Civil Rights Movement;
• any criticisms, positive or negative, those participants in the Civil Rights Movement made of the Kennedy Administration or the Federal Government.

Students should then read the following online documents, linked to the EDSITEment-reviewed Center for History and New Media website:

• The Introduction to Project "C" in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's 1963 campaign in Birmingham, Alabama
• President Kennedy's press conference comments, " An Ugly Situation in Birmingham, 1963 ," on the civil rights protests in Birmingham
• Teachers may also want to review students' notes from their reading of the summary of President Kennedy's civil rights record

Then, in the final part of this activity, students should respond in writing to the following questions:

What do President Kennedy's comments tell us about:

• How does President Kennedy say this conflict has been resolved?
• How does he describe what has happened in Birmingham?
• What is he leaving out of this description?
• Why would he omit this information?
• What type of audience is watching events in Birmingham, according to Kennedy?

And, judging by these comments, to what extent does President Kennedy appear to support or oppose the Civil Right Movement in Birmingham at this time? Please use evidence from the press conference reading to support your answers.

Activity 2. Different Actors in the Civil Rights Movement

• Students will read a brief background explanation, view the official program of the 1963 March On Washington for Jobs and Freedom, as well as see a photo of the crowds attending the March, at Our Documents' Official Program for the March on Washington , linked to National Archives Education , an EDSITEment-reviewed website.
• Students will read a brief excerpt from the King Encyclopedia on the EDSITEment-reviewed Martin Luther King Papers' Project site, mentioning Kennedy's initial fear and then embrace of the March on Washington. Click here to go to the King Encyclopedia , and then click on "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom."
• Students will then examine four speeches connected to the March. The teacher can assign all students to read all four speeches. Alternatively, the teacher might use a "jigsaw" approach, dividing the class into four groups, giving each group one speech. After each group has read its assigned speech and answered the questions, students can meet in groups of four in which each student has read a different speech. Now each student explains the speech he or she read to the other students, and how his or her group answered the questions. Following the "jigsaw," the teacher can lead a classwide discussion on the speeches.

The speeches

• President Kennedy's Speech on Civil Rights June 11, 1963—Here is the transcript , and an audio clip . Both links are from the EDSITEment-reviewed American President ;

• John Lewis speech delivered at the March on Washington in August, 1963—" Patience is a Dirty and Nasty Word ." 

• Martin Luther King speech delivered at the March on Washington in August, 1963—" I Have A Dream"  from the EDSITEment-reviewed Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project ;

• From Malcolm X Speaks , an audio clip from the November 10, 1963 "Message to the Grassroots"—click on "The March on Washington" to hear his critique of the March. This site is connected to the EDSITEment-reviewed History Matters website.

Questions on the speeches:

How do each of these speeches describe the role played by the Federal Government in the Civil Rights Movement?

• What is the role of the Federal Government in ensuring equal rights for African Americans, according to each of the different speakers?
• What do each of the speakers think is the key to changing the second-class status of African Americans in American life?
• Based upon your prior knowledge of the status of African-Americans in the United States at this time, and your analysis of the arguments in each speech, which speech or speaker gives the best explanation of the U.S. Government's relationship to the Civil Rights Movement?

Following the class discussion, return the students to the "jigsaw" group from Activity 3, in which each student read a different speech (if all students have read all of the speeches, any groups will work). Assign each group a different newspaper: a Northern newspaper, a Southern newspaper, or an African American newspaper.

Students, acting as the editorial board for their assigned newspaper, will write an editorial commenting on the speeches given at the March on Washington. Which position would the editorial board endorse for the African American community? What would they have the Administration endorse (bear in mind Kennedy's initial opposition to the March)? How should the majority of Americans, who were not at the March, respond to the issues raised that day?

• Have students look at images of the Birmingham Protest at Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement site , a link on EDSITEment-reviewed History Matters , and then write a quick response to President Kennedy on the Birmingham press conference from the point of view of a protestor. There are additional images from the Library of Congress website, The Civil Rights Era in the U.S. News & World Report Photographs Collection.
• Students can read oral histories of the freedom riders at such sites as the Civil Rights Movement Timeline . One particularly powerful account is by Steve McNichols " The Last Freedom Ride ," about CORE's last ride from Los Angeles to Houston, Texas in August of 1961. One idea would be to ask students read it and then write to President Kennedy on the Birmingham Press Conference. Additional oral histories could be found The Civil Rights in Mississippi: A Digital Archives , is a link on the EDSITEment-reviewed History Matters .

Selected EDSITEment Websites

• JFK, LBJ, and the Fight for Equal Opportunity in the 1960s 
• The Civil Rights Era in the U.S. News & World Report Photographs Collection
• JFK in History: Civil Rights Context in the early 1960s
• John F. Kennedy Speeches: Address on Civil Rights
• John Lewis, "Patience is a Dirty and Nasty Word"
• People & Events: The Kennedys and Civil Rights
• Project "C" in Birmingham
• "An Ugly Situation in Birmingham," 1963
• Official Program for the March on Washington (1963)
• History Now: the Civil Rights Movement
• " The Civil Rights Movement: Major Events and Legacies "
• " Different Perspectives on the Civil Rights Movement "
• The Civil Rights in Mississippi: A Digital Archives
• Malcolm X Speaks
• Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement: Images of a People's Movement
• SNCC: 1960-1966
• Freedom Rides
• SNCC -- Issues
• Martin Luther King, Jr., "I Have A Dream"
• King Encyclopedia
• PBS Freedom Riders Documentary

Related on EDSITEment

A raisin in the sun: whose "american dream", jfk, lbj, and the fight for equal opportunity in the 1960s, let freedom ring: the life & legacy of martin luther king, jr., martin luther king, jr., gandhi, and the power of nonviolence, the freedom riders and the popular music of the civil rights movement.

Freedom Riders: John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the Front Lines of the Civil Rights Movement

by Ann Bausum. Illustrated. National Geographic, 2006. $18.95.

Though Lewis and Zwerg were of different races, their lives became entwined as their activism helped end segregation.

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Freedom Riders Reflect On 50th Anniversary

Fifty years ago, a small group boarded a bus in Washington D.C. to challenge racial segregation in the deep South. They were nearly burned alive in Alabama. Then hundreds of activists joined the movement to keep the rides going. Host Michel Martin speaks with two Freedom Riders about this historical episode. Congressman Bob Filner and Rev. Reginald Green were college students when joining and were consequently jailed.

Copyright © 2011 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Paving the way: Meet the 13 original Freedom Riders who changed travel in the South

In May 1961, 13 men and women boarded a bus in Washington, D.C., bound for New Orleans to celebrate the seventh anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision desegregating public schools.

Their mission was twofold, with the second goal being to challenge the laws regarding segregated interstate travel in the South . 

They did so, but not without fear in the face of violence. The buses they rode on were bombed. They were beaten and jailed but their spirits were not broken.

More than 400 people would eventually participate in the movement known as the Freedom Rides. These are the stories of the 13 people — students, a pastor and retired educators among them — who started it all.

More: Freedom Riders revolutionized American travel, transit 60 years ago

James L. Farmer Jr. (1920-1999)

Raised by a professor who taught divinity at Howard University, James Farmer Jr. was a pacifist who sought to achieve racial justice through nonviolent activism. Often a target of racial violence, Farmer helped to shape the Civil Rights Movement when he launched The Freedom Rides to challenge the efforts to block the desegregation of interstate busing. 

The national director and co-founder of the first Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) chapter in 1942, Farmer set the foundation for the Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts in the mid-1960s. 

He spent 41 days in Mississippi jails. One of the most memorable moments of that time, he said, was when those jailed alongside him in steel and concrete cells with straw-filled mattresses sang freedom songs together, despite being threatened by guards.

"We were told that the racists, the segregationists, would go to any extent to hold the line on segregation in interstate travel. So when we began the ride I think all of us were prepared for as much violence as could be thrown at us. We were prepared for the possibility of death," Farmer said in a 1985 interview . 

He would go on to serve as assistant secretary of health, education and welfare under President Nixon. In 1998, Farmer was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 

James Peck (1914-1993)

James Peck was born into a wealthy family in New York City. He dropped out of Harvard University to become a full-time activist and was the only person to participate in both the Freedom Rides and Journey of Reconciliation.

“By encouraging and supporting actions such as that in Montgomery, we who adhere to the principles of nonviolence hope to hasten complete abolition of segregation within our social system,” Peck wrote in CORE’s introduction to Martin Luther King’s 1957 article, “Our Struggle: The Journey of Montgomery.”

Peck would later go on to protest against the Vietnam War.

Genevieve Hughes (1932-2012)

One of the three women to participate in the early days of the Freedom Rides, Genevieve Hughes quit her job as a stockbroker to become the field secretary of CORE and civil rights activist. 

"I figured Southern women should be represented to the South and the nation would realize all Southern people don't think alike," she said of her reason to join CORE.

She, along with John Lewis and Al Bigelow sustained injuries when several white men attacked them at a bus terminal in Rock Hill, South Carolina, on May 10, 1961.

Joe Perkins (1933-1976)

Joe Perkins was the first Freedom Rider arrested for sitting at a whites-only shoeshine stand in Charlotte, North Carolina, according to PBS. After spending two days in jail, he caught up with the group and led the Freedom Riders on the Greyhound bus, which was burned in Anniston, Alabama.

Perkins was recruited by CORE in August 1960 and became known as a masterful organizer.

Born in Owensboro, Kentucky, Perkins was educated at Kentucky State University and served in the Army for two years. He later pursued a graduate degree at the University of Michigan. 

Before 1961: How Irene Morgan and Bruce Boynton paved the way for the Freedom Riders

Walter Bergman (1899-1999)

Walter Bergman graduated high school when he was only 15 and was drafted into the Army during World War I. When he saw the devastation in Germany, he became a pacifist. 

A former union activist and college professor, Bergman became a victim of McCarthyism in 1953 when the state department seized his passport while he was teachingin Denmark. He retired from teaching and became a Freedom Rider when he was 61 years old.

The oldest of the original 13 members, Bergman suffered a stroke after being savagely beaten by the Ku Klux Klan in Anniston, Alabama. He would never walk again. Bergman was awarded $35,000 of the $2 million he sought in lawsuit against the federal government in 1983.

Frances Bergman (1904-1979) 

A civil rights activist alongside her husband Walter Bergman, Frances Bergman was a school teacher and member of the American Civil Liberties Union and Socialist Party of America. After she and her husband retired from education, they volunteered to ride on the first bus that left Washington on May 4, 1961. At 57, she was the oldest of the female Freedom Riders. 

Albert Bigelow (1906–1993)

A Boston native, Bigelow studied at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He worked as an architect before heading off to World War II with the Navy.

Then and now: Could the Freedom Riders make a difference against today’s racism?

Bigelow was an activist prior to his time as a Freedom Rider. He opposed the use of nuclear weapons after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, and opened up his home to survivors of Hiroshima who were seeking reconstructive surgery. Following the war, he and a small crew set out for the South Pacific to disrupt and protest atomic testing. They were jailed for 60 days in Hawaii.

He was 55 when he joined the Freedom Riders. Bigelow and former U.S. Rep. John Lewis were the first to face violence after attempting to integrate a whites-only waiting room in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Lewis was struck first as Bigelow stepped in between Lewis and his attackers.

“It had to look strange to these guys to see a big, strong white man putting himself in the middle of a fistfight like this, not looking at all as if he was ready to throw a punch, but not looking frightened either,” Lewis wrote in his memoir “Walking with the Wind.”

Jimmy McDonald (1933–2000)

McDonald was 29 years old when he joined the Freedom Riders and was considered the least disciplined of the group when it came to adhering to its non-violent mantra.

As a teen in the late 1940s, McDonald, according to author Raymond Arsenault, campaigned for a Progressive Party presidential candidate. Later, he became a folk singer in New York City before joining the Freedom Riders. McDonald saw the bus trip as an adventure, and said he was brought along for his singing ability.

“I was not sent because I had a lot of intellect,” he recalled in 1969; “. . . certainly I was not in there because I wanted to be like Gandhi,” he said in Arsenault’s book “Freedom Riders.”

McDonald would later go to work on television for BET, where he hosted two programs. He was also the executive director of the Yonkers Human Rights Commission and a 30-year activist for the NAACP.

Ed Blankenheim (1934–2004)

Prior to becoming a Freedom Rider, Blankenheim’s experience as a young Marine in North Carolina, where he witnessed segregation and racism, laid the groundwork for his role in the Civil Rights movement.

After leaving the military, Blankenheim enrolled in classes at the University of Arizona, where he helped Black students suffering from housing discrimination. He also joined the NAACP and soon after was offered a spot as a Freedom Rider.

Blankenheim was 27 when the bus he rode into Anniston, Alabama was set on fire on Mother’s Day 1961. He the blaze, but lost several teeth after being hit in the face with a tire iron.

“We’ll roast them alive! We’ll roast them alive!” is what the crowd shouted, Blankenheim told NPR in 2001. Blankenheim worked for a few years in the South testing bus stations to make certain that they were following the laws and were fully integrated before eventually settling in San Francisco, where he worked as a carpenter.

Hank Thomas (1941- )

Thomas, who grew up in Florida, was only 19 years old when he joined the Freedom Riders. He too was one of the riders attacked in Anniston, Alabama, after their bus caught fire.

“But I then knew that Anniston was a terrible, terrible place,” he told an interviewer in 2017.

Thomas later served in the Vietnam War as a medic in 1965. He was wounded in combat and awarded the Purple Heart. While serving in Vietnam, just a few years after his time as a Freedom Rider, he shot down a Confederate flag flying above an Army base.

An entrepreneur, Thomas first bought a laundromat before going on to own several fast-food franchises and hotels.

Rev. B. Elton Cox (1931-2011)

Cox, 29, was a pastor in High Point, North Carolina, when he founded the first Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) chapter. After meeting with James Farmer, director of CORE, he was asked to become a Freedom Rider.

One of 16 children, Cox said he protested an A&W Restaurant in Illinois as a teen because of its shoddy service toward Black customers. In high school, Cox and other students were successful in persuading staff to stop the singing of a song in music class that he said had degrading racial overtones.

In December 1961, Cox lead a peaceful demonstration in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he was arrested and charged. In 1965 in Cox v. Louisiana, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in his favor, on the grounds Louisiana law deprived him  the right to free speech and assembly.

Cox was arrested nearly 20 times during the civil rights movement and spent numerous days in jail.

John R. Lewis (1940-2020)

Now the most famous of first Freedom Riders, Lewis is considered one of the “Big Six” leaders of the Civil Rights movement. He represented Georgia in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1987 to 2020.

Not long after the group set out, Lewis, then 21, was attacked in Rock Hill, South Carolina. In another attack during the rides, a white mob beat Lewis unconscious in Montgomery, Alabama. Jailed numerous times, he also spent nearly 40 days in the Mississippi State Prison, known as Parchman Farm, for entering a “white” restroom as a Freedom Rider. For several years until his death, beginning in 2014, Lewis posted his mugshots on Twitter each year to mark the anniversary of his Mississippi arrest.

“During the time I was being beaten and other times when I was being beaten, I had what I called an executive session with myself. I said I’m gonna take it, I’m prepared. On the Freedom Ride, I was prepared to die,” he said during a 2011 appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Charles Person (1943- )

Person was born in Atlanta, Georgia, where hatred toward Black people was rampant. He wanted to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but during the time many universities weren't willing to look beyond his skin color to consider his intellect. After multiple denials, Person attended Morehouse College and waded deep into the politics and racism of society by participating in rallies and facing discrimination head-on. He would spend weeks behind bars after being arrested at protests and never failed to complete homework assignments

He joined the Freedom Riders at age 18 and would go down in history as the youngest original member.

Though he wasn't on the bus that caught on fire in Anniston, Alabama, Person didn't come out of the journey unscathed. He experienced nightmares some men only see in war: burning vehicles with the doors held shut while people burned inside, caravans looking for people to lynch and blood leaking into his eyes after relentless beatings.

About this series

In May 1961, the first Freedom Riders departed on their journey through the South to challenge segregated buses, bus terminals, lunch counters and other facilities associated with interstate travel.

These activists would be confronted, often violently, by police and mobs of white citizens, drawing international attention to social inequity in what became a pivotal moment in the civil rights movement.

This year, the USA TODAY Network is examining the legacy of these trailblazers and how it informs our current moment.

Watch CBS News

Meet the Kentucky Derby horses running in the 2024 race

By Alex Sundby

Updated on: May 2, 2024 / 11:04 AM EDT / CBS News

A field of 20 horses is set to launch from the starting gate for the 2024 Kentucky Derby on Saturday. The 150th Run for the Roses is expected to see 19 colts and a gelding dashing down the dirt track at Churchill Downs in Louisville to try to win the first leg of horse racing's Triple Crown before tens of thousands of spectators.

Florida Derby winner Fierceness was picked by Churchill Downs oddsmaker Mike Battaglia last Saturday as the morning line favorite with 5-2 odds. The bay colt was initially set to break from the No. 17 post — a stall that's produced no Derby winners since starting gates were first used in 1930 — before 20-1 shot Encino scratched this week. Sierra Leone, slotted in the No. 2 post, is right behind Fierceness with 3-1 odds.

Encino's departure from the race over a reported soft tissue strain opened up the No. 9 post, allowing the horses from post No. 10 and up to move one space closer to the inside of the track. That moved Fierceness to the No. 16 post, the starting position for four Derby winners, most recently Animal Kingdom in 2011.

Epic Ride, the brown colt who finished third in last month's Blue Grass Stakes, filled the No. 20 post at 50-1 odds, next to fellow long shot Society Man, the chestnut gelding who came in second at New York's Wood Memorial.

2024 Kentucky Derby horses

Here's the complete list of the 2024 Kentucky Derby horses in order with their morning line odds:

• Dornoch (20-1)
• Sierra Leone (3-1)
• Mystik Dan (20-1)
• Catching Freedom (8-1)
• Catalytic (30-1)
• Just Steel (20-1)
• Honor Marie (20-1)
• Just a Touch (10-1)
• T O Password (30-1)
• Forever Young (10-1)
• Track Phantom (20-1)
• West Saratoga (50-1)
• Endlessly (30-1)
• Domestic Product (30-1)
• Grand Mo the First (50-1)
• Fierceness (5-2)
• Stronghold (20-1)
• Resilience (20-1)
• Society Man (50-1)
• Epic Ride (50-1)  

The field for the 1 1/4-mile race is limited to 20 3-year-olds. If another horse scratches from the race before Friday at 9 a.m. EDT, then Mugatu is eligible to be added to the field.

Most of the horses got to the Derby by earning points in the Road to the Kentucky Derby, a series of races that started in September with the Iroquois Stakes, and concluded at the Lexington Stakes on April 13. Points were given to the top five finishers in each of the 36 races.

Separately, T O Password was invited to the Derby after winning last month's Fukuryu Stakes in Japan and being awarded enough points to top the four-race Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby.

Earlier this year, Churchill Downs announced the purse for the 2024 Derby would be an all-time high of $5 million, up from the $3 million in prize money that had been up for grabs since 2019.

The $5 million will be split among the top five finishers in the Derby, with $3.1 million for the winner, $1 million for the runner-up, $500,000 for third place, $250,000 for fourth place and $150,000 for fifth place.

The Derby is traditionally held on the first Saturday in May, marking the start of the Triple Crown. Two weeks after the Derby, the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore marks the midpoint of the series. In June, the Belmont Stakes will close out the series in Saratoga Springs, New York, instead of the race's home on Long Island because of construction of a new Belmont Park .

• Horse Racing
• Kentucky Derby

Alex Sundby is a senior editor at CBSNews.com. In addition to editing content, Alex also covers breaking news, writing about crime and severe weather as well as everything from multistate lottery jackpots to the July Fourth hot dog eating contest.

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Full horses list and odds for the 2024 Kentucky Derby

Who will win the 2024 Kentucky Derby ?

That's a question to be answered this weekend when the 150th Run for the Roses starts on Saturday, May 4 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. Morning-line odds are out for all 20 participants – including two Japanese horses – in this year's race, indicating which horses are early favorites to win the first leg of horse racing's Triple Crown.

Topping the early odds are two American horses born in Kentucky: Sierra Leone, trained by Chad Brown and jockeyed by Tyler Gafflione, and Fierceness, trained by Todd Pletcher and jockeyed by three-time Derby winner John Velazquez.

After Saturday's post drawing , we know Sierra Leone will be trying to be the eighth horse to win the "Greatest Two Minutes in Sports" from post 2.

On Tuesday, Encino – the horse slated to start from post 9 – was scratched from the race. Horses originally set in posts 10-20 have moved up one post and Epic Ride will start from post 20 as Encino's substitution.

Here is the full list of participants and morning-line odds for the 2024 Kentucky Derby.

2024 KENTUCKY DERBY: Time, date, TV and streaming info for 150th Run for the Roses

2024 Kentucky Derby horses and odds

Looking to bet: Wager on the Kentucky Derby with FanDuel

Kentucky Derby 2024: TV, streaming and where to watch

• When: Saturday, May 4
• Coverage starts : 2:30 p.m. ET
• Post time: 6:57 p.m. ET
• Where: Churchill Downs, Louisville Kentucky
• Cable TV: NBC
• Streaming: Peacock ; YouTube TV; fuboTV

HOW TO WATCH: Watch the 2024 Kentucky Derby with a Peacock subscription

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‘Indefensible’: UK prisoner jailed for 23 months killed himself after being held for 17 years

Coroner condemns ‘inhumane’ imprisonment for public protection sentences that have no end date for release

A senior coroner has condemned the “inhumane” and “indefensible” treatment of a man who killed himself 17 years into an indefinite prison sentence. Tom Osborne, the senior coroner for Milton Keynes, said Scott Rider had given up all hope of release before he took his own life at HMP Woodhill in June 2022.

He had been serving an imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentence after being convicted of grievous bodily harm in 2005. The sentence had a minimum term of 23 months but no end date.

Days before he died, Rider told a prison worker that he had lost hope he would ever be freed. He said it was “disgusting” that he was still locked up, that his crime had not warranted a never-ending punishment, and that the IPP sentence had ruined his life. “He did things wrong and he deserved to be punished but he didn’t deserve that,” his sister, Michelle Mahon, said.

Osborne, who led the investigation into Rider’s death, has now written to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) calling for a review of all prisoners serving IPP sentences.

The controversial punishment was introduced in 2005 and scrapped in 2012 after widespread criticism. But it was not abolished retrospectively and almost 3,000 people given IPPs remain in prison today. The sentences do not have an end date, with prisoners remaining in custody until they can prove they don’t pose a risk.

Many of those on IPPs were convicted for low-level crimes such as theft, including one person who has spent 12 years in prison after stealing a mobile phone. Even if IPP prisoners are released, they remain on licence with the threat of the sentence being reactivated at any time.

In a prevention of future deaths report sent to the prisons minister, Edward Argar, Osborne warned that without urgent action more people could die. He said he had been told by the governor of Woodhill that she believed IPPs were “indefensible” and that she and her fellow governors would welcome an intervention.

“One has to conclude that his treatment was inhumane and indefensible and that if action is not taken to review all prisoners sentenced to IPP then there is a risk of further deaths occurring,” he wrote of Rider’s case.

Rider’s sister said that the sentence robbed her brother “of the chance to have a family and the chance to turn his life around”.

She said that growing up, her brother had been the “golden child” but that in his teens he began using drugs and racked up convictions for crimes, including theft and burglary.

In 2003, Rider was jailed for assaulting their father. He was later released and, Mahon says, went on to clean his life up and find a girlfriend. But in 2005, while still on licence for the earlier offence, he was arrested again after assaulting a colleague and given an IPP sentence with a minimum tariff of 23 months.

Mahon, a nurse from Durham from whom he was estranged, only found out he was serving an IPP sentence after he died. She said she had never heard of them before and was stunned that it meant the length of his punishment lay in the hands of a parole board rather than a judge.

She is now campaigning for the cases of all IPP prisoners to be reviewed. “I do not condone what Scott has done. In 17 years, he committed 47 offences and was convicted of 22. But I think these sentences are inhumane and they need to be abolished. To get a 23-month sentence and serve 17 years… how can they justify it?” Mahon said.

She said she felt her brother had been punished for disengaging with the system. Over his 17-and-a-half years behind bars, Rider transferred between prisons repeatedly; was abusive to staff; and had appeared depressed. In 2018, he was convicted of racially aggravated harassment of a prison officer.

In May 2022 he told a prison worker that he felt Woodhill prison was “despicable” and that he was “going insane”. He refused to engage with the parole process. By the time of his death in June 2022, he had been self-isolating in his cell for 200 days and had stopped showering. The inquest into Rider’s death heard it was common for IPP prisoners to display “challenging behaviours” and that they often felt “trapped”.

Mahon said: “How can they justify rejecting parole just because on the day he’s supposed to meet the parole board he’s woken up in a bad mood and told them to eff off? That to me cries mental health… so why should he be kept in prison for that?”

Official figures published last week show 2,796 people given IPPs remain in prison today. Of those, 1,179 have never been released and 705 are more than 10 years beyond their original sentence.

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Campaigners have described IPPs as a “death sentence by the back door”. The rate of self-harm among IPP prisoners is more than twice that of the general prison population and there have been 90 self-inflicted deaths of prisoners on IPPs in custody since they were introduced in April 2005, according to the United Group for Reform of IPP. The figures do not include suicides in the community.

One person still serving an IPP sentence, Wayne Gregory from Swansea, said the punishment had affected “every aspect of my life, physical and mental health and progression out of prison”.

Gregory was jailed in 2007 after admitting wounding and common assault and should have been in prison for under three years, but remains there today.

Campaigners supporting him say he is “trapped in a cycle” of severe anxiety and self-harm. In one incident, Wayne wrote that “IPP killed me” on his cell wall in his own blood. In a letter detailing his situation, he said he wanted to be a voice for IPP prisoners and was optimistic things would change. “I won’t be silent,” he said.

The MoJ has so far resisted calls to review the cases of existing IPP prisoners. It said 185 IPP prisoners had been released in the year to March 2024 and that numbers had reduced by three-quarters since the sentences were scrapped in 2012.

But a spokesperson said that retrospectively changing sentences posed a risk to public safety because it meant people who the parole board had deemed unsafe for release, “many of whom have committed serious violent or sexual offences, would leave prison without probation supervision and support”. It must respond to the coroner’s report by 23 May.

Richard Garside, the director of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, said there was no reason why post-release supervision and support could not be written into legislation for people on IPPs. He said it was certainly the case that some had committed serious crimes but this did not mean it was OK “that they are languishing in prison years after the tariff”.

Lord Blunkett, who introduced IPPs while home secretary in Tony Blair’s government, has also called for reform. In 2021, a year before Rider’s suicide, he told the Lords: “I got it wrong. The government now have the chance to get it right.”

• The IPP scandal
• Prisons and probation
• UK criminal justice
• UK civil liberties
• Human rights

More on this story

David Blunkett says devising 99-year prison sentences is his ‘biggest regret’

The Guardian view on indeterminate sentences: the legacy of a bad law lingers on

Tommy Nicol was kind and friendly – a beloved brother. Why did he die in prison on a ‘99-year’ sentence?

‘It’s a very unfair system’: family of man who took his own life criticise indefinite sentences

MoJ changes to indefinite jail sentences do not go far enough, says UN expert

‘It’s bittersweet’: MoJ sentencing changes will bring freedom for some

Over 1,800 offenders to have indefinite jail sentences terminated, says MoJ

Indefinite sentences should be suicide risk factor, says prisons watchdog

Number of offenders with indefinite sentences recalled to prison soars

UN torture expert urges UK government to review indefinite sentences

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