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75th Anniversary of the Journey of Reconciliation

The 1947 Journey of Reconciliation: A Long Road to Justice | Friday, May 20 (2 – 4 pm)

In-Person at the Hillsborough Courthouse (Mural Courtroom)

On April 9, 1947, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) sent 16 brave civil rights activists, 8 Black and 8 white, to ride together on buses through the American South. Why was this a dangerous and revolutionary action? With the South still in the clenches of Jim Crow laws and etiquette, CORE’s mission was to test a recent Supreme Court decision, Morgan v. Virginia (1946), which had actually struck down segregation on interstate bus travel. This so-called “Journey of Reconciliation” in 1947, a critical precursor to the more known Freedom Rides of the 1960s, lasted two weeks. Throughout that time, riders tried 26 different seating arrangements on various buses across Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Riders were arrested during six of those attempts.

On April 13, 1947, on the last leg of the trip departing from Chapel Hill, NC to Greensboro, NC, four riders (including CORE treasurer Bayard Rustin) were arrested after being attacked by an angry mob. They were tried, convicted, and sentenced to serve 30 days on a chain gang. With their appeal to the Supreme Court denied, three of the Riders surrendered at the Hillsborough Courthouse in March of 1949 to serve their sentence on segregated chain gangs in Roxboro, NC.

Join the 18 Judicial District of NC, Carolina K-12 at Carolina Public Humanities, Orange County Community Remembrance Coalition, & the Alliance for Historic Hillsborough on Fri. May 20th (2 pm) at the historic Hillsborough Courthouse, 75 years after the “First Freedom Ride,” as we commemorate the 75 year anniversary of this legal travesty. This FREE, dynamic event will include:

  • A keynote address by author & professor Gene Nichol (UNC-CH School of Law): “The Journey: Courage, Hate and the Unending Struggle for the Promise of America”
  • Attorney James Williams will discuss the role of Black lawyers in challenging Jim Crow in transportation
  • Poet, artist and performer CJ Suitt will provide an artistic interpretation of of the courthouse proceedings
  • Vocalist & educator Mary D. Williams will perform Freedom Songs from the Long Civil Rights Movement

This is event is FREE and open to the public. Registration is not required, but is requested to help us prepare for attendance numbers.

CLICK HERE FOR IN-PERSON REGISTRATION (Requested, but not required)

For the location of the Orange County Courthouse in Hillsborough, directions/map, & parking information, click here. (Please note that downtown Hillsborough can be busy on Friday afternoons, so plan your arrival and parking options accordingly. Additional parking is available throughout downtown Hillsborough; click here for details.)

Funding for this event is provided by Humanities for the Public Good, an initiative at UNC-CH’s College of Arts & Sciences.