Derek Charles Catsam - Freedoms Main Line: The Journey of Reconciliation and the Freedom Rides

Freedoms Main Line

CIVIL RIGHTS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR BLACK EQUALITY
IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Series Editors
Steven F. Lawson, Rutgers University
Cynthia Griggs Fleming, University of Tennessee

Freedoms Main Line: The Journey of Reconciliation
and the Freedom Rides
Derek Charles Catsam

Subversive Southerner: Anne Braden and the Struggle
for Racial Justice in the Cold War South
Catherine Fosl

Constructing Affirmative Action:
The Struggle for Equal Employment Opportunity
David Hamilton Golland

Becoming King: Martin Luther King Jr.
and the Making of a National Leader
Troy Jackson

Civil Rights in the Gateway to the South:
Louisville, Kentucky, 19451980
Tracy E. KMeyer

Democracy Rising: South Carolina and
the Fight for Black Equality since 1865
Peter F. Lau

Civil Rights Crossroads: Nation, Community,
and the Black Freedom Struggle
Steven F. Lawson

Freedom Rights: New Perspectives in the Civil Rights Movement
Edited by Danielle L. McGuire and John Dittmer

This Little Light of Mine: The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer
Kay Mills

After the Dream: Black and White Southerners since 1965
Timothy J. Minchin and John A. Salmond

For Jobs and Freedom: Race and Labor in America since 1865
Robert H. Zieger

The Journey of Reconciliation
and the Freedom Rides

DEREK CHARLES CATSAM

Copyright 2009 by The University Press of Kentucky

Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth, serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville,
and Western Kentucky University.
All rights reserved.

Editorial and Sales Offices: The University Press of Kentucky
663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 405084008
www.kentuckypress.com

13 12 11 10 09 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Catsam, Derek.

Freedoms main line : the journey of reconciliation and the freedom rides / Derek Charles Catsam.

p. cm. (Civil rights and the struggle for Black equality in the twentieth century)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-8131-2511-4 (hardcover : alk. paper)

1. Freedom Rides, 1961. 2. African AmericansCivil rightsSouthern StatesHistory20th century 3. African AmericansSegregationSouthern StatesHistory20th century. 4. Civil rights demonstrationsSouthern StatesHistory20th century. 5. Segregation in transportationSouthern StatesHistory20th century. 6. Southern StatesRace relationsHistory20th century. I. Title.

E185.61.C295 2008

This book is printed on acid-free recycled paper meeting the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials.

Manufactured in the United States of America.

Member of the Association of
American University Presses

To Ana. I love you.

Like any lengthy project, this one owes a great deal to a number of people who helped bring it to fruition. For most of these, a simple word of thanks seems insufficient, to say the least. Nonetheless, a public acknowledgment of what is ultimately a very personal debt is warranted. I delayed writing these acknowledgments until the last possible moment, facing the wrath of my editors at Kentucky, because I was almost paralyzed by the fear of leaving someone out. The standard caveat for projects such as this is that all mistakes contained herein are my own, and of course that holds here as wellwith an exception or two. I will point these out in due course.

First, I would like to thank the institutions that provided me with research support for this project. These include Ohio Universitys Contemporary History Institute and Department of History, which provided several grants for research in the early years of this project. Ohio Universitys Baker Peace Fund gave me a year of funding through a Baker Peace Fellowship in 20012002. I received grants and other support from the North Caroliniana Societys Archie K. Davis Fellowship in 20002001; from the Supreme Court Historical Society in 2001; from Houstons Black History Workshop in 2003; from the Virginia Historical Societys Mellon Research Fellowship in 2003; from the University of South Carolinas Institute for Southern Studies, which made me a research fellow, in 20032004 (and again in 20082009 for a new project); and from Tulane Universitys Deep South Regional Humanities Center, which also made me a research fellow, in 2003. The American Political Science Associations Centennial Center for Political Science and Public Affairs allowed me to be a visiting scholar in January 2004. I was also able to work out some ideas on regional change and Southern identity as a participant in the National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute, Appalachia Up Close, at Ferrum College in 2004.

Two major long-term residential fellowships allowed me to write, revise, and reflect on the project as it developed. I cannot possibly repay the debts I owe to the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, which provided me with collegial surroundings and an unparalleled work environment for the first half of 2004. David Bearinger, Andrew Chancey, Roberta Culbertson, Nancy Damon, Pablo Davis, Judy Moody, Jeannie Palin, and VFH President Rob Vaughn helped facilitate my stay and make it fruitful. Ann White Spencer went above and beyond the call of duty at all times. Eben Smith served as a gracious host and landlord. Bill Freehling embraced my work instantly and continues to provide the sort of gracious model for scholarship to which all in the profession aspire. The other fellows during my tenure, J. Blyton, Gordon Blyton, Tico Braun, and Larissa Smith, provided the sort of intellectual community that any scholar welcomes.

Similarly, I was able to spend a few months as a visiting fellow at the Rothermere American Institute at the University of Oxford in 2005. Andrea Brighton, Paul Giles, Laura Lauer, and Ruth Parr all helped to facilitate my stay, as did the staff at Holywell Manor. It was in Oxford that I met Roger Johnson and the rest of our loose and bawdy collective known as the Armitage Shanks. That alone made the time across the pond worth it, despite their tragic mispronunciations and mangling of the language.

Both of these experiences were transformative, providing intellectual nourishment and also fellowship in the truest sense of the word. If you are now, or have ever been, affiliated with either of these world-class institutions, thank you. You helped change my career for the better.

I received generous support from Minnesota State University, Mankato, when I taught there, including summer funding from a teacher-scholar research grant and support from the College of Social Sciences. Above all, my current home institution, the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, has been exceedingly generous in its support, providing me with two Faculty Development Fund for Academic Excellence grants, as well as funding from the College of Arts and Sciences. The universitys LaMancha Society granted me its Golden Windmill Award for excellence in research in 2006, which came with a generous research grant.