The Reverse Freedom Rides

In 1961, the Freedom Rides brought about the desegregation of southern bus terminals for the civil rights movement. In 1962, the pro-segregation White Citizens’ Councils began the “Reverse Freedom Rides.” They would pay a one-way fare for an African American family to ride North. Meant as a publicity stunt rather than a serious enterprise, the Reverse Freedom Rides were embraced by Amis Guthridge of Little Rock’s Capital Citizen’s Council. The Little Rock Citizens’ Council funded more Reverse Freedom Rides than any other branch in the country, virtually bankrupting themselves in the process. The main losers in the whole episode were the near two hundred African American families who were desperate enough to take up the offer. They ended up being pawns in what the New York Times described as “a cheap trafficking in human misery.” My name is John Kirk for the History Department at UALR and this has been an Arkansas moment.