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Retracing the 1960s Freedom Rides Through the Deep South

by Maya Raquel Anderson

“Immigration built this nation,” chants Gelazio, 22, of Houston, as he marches with 5000 immigrant workers and community activists through the streets of Atlanta in the largest immigrant rights demonstration the state of Georgia has ever seen. Gelazio and I are part of the Houston delegation of the Immigrant Workers’ Freedom Ride (IWFR), a bus caravan of 900 immigrant workers and activists rallying for immigrants’ rights in 103 cities across the United States on our way to Washington, DC.

The freedom riders’ goal is to promote immigrant workers’ rights, civil liberties, family reunification, and the opportunity for immigrants to become legal residents. The IWFR is inspired by the historical civil rights freedom rides of 1961, a caravan of African American and white activists who traveled through the Deep South to protest Jim Crow segregation.

As a U.S. citizen and former immigrant from Germany, I had the unique opportunity to participate in the Houston delegation of the IWFR from Sept. 25 to Oct. 4. Our delegation of about 95 immigrants, allies, and former participants in the 1960s freedom rides visited churches, community centers, and union halls in 15 southern cities. We were greeted by elected officials, community activists, and civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King III, Rev. Joseph Lowry, and Rev. James Orange, who is rumored to have the most extensive arrest record for civil disobedience of any civil rights activist.

In honor of the many civil rights activists who died in the struggle, we visited numerous historical monuments, such as the 16th St. Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, where four African American girls were killed in a 1963 bombing by the Ku Klux Klan. In Selma, we marched across the Edmond Pettis Bridge, where Martin Luther King, Jr., and thousands of civil rights activists were tear-gassed in 1965 on their historical march to Montgomery, Alabama.

During our journey, no one physically attacked or tear-gassed us, a reminder of the gains made by the civil rights movement. However, the freedom riders pointed out, inhumane U.S. immigration policies still lead to hardship and death. Some of the riders have had friends and relatives who died while crossing the U.S.-Mexico border due to dehydration, exposure, or anti-immigrant violence. Maria Elena Durazo, IWFR chairwoman, reminded us that an average of one person dies in the border area every day, as militarized U.S. border control policies push immigrants to cross the border in the most dangerous desert areas.

Freedom riders also noted that they often face severe workplace exploitation and live with the constant threat of being torn away from their families and deported. On Sept. 26, the Los Angeles freedom ride delegation was detained and interrogated by immigration authorities near El Paso, Texas. The Los Angeles riders braved the threat of deportation by refusing to disclose their immigration status and chanting “we shall overcome,” until immigration officials finally gave up and released them.

Angelina, one of the freedom riders, described how her son “just went to get milk,” and ended up in immigration detention, where he died from suspicious causes that are still under investigation. “I’m on this freedom ride so that no mother will have to go through what I have gone through with my son,” she said.

Chelladurai, a worker from India, spoke about how he had paid over $12,000 to a labor contractor who promised him a welding job in the United States and then left him in New Orleans without a job, money, food, or a place to call his home. Throughout our journey, immigrant freedom riders and Southern civil rights activists shared their stories of exploitation and struggle, prayers, songs, and their vision for a more just society where all human beings are truly considered equal.

After traveling through the South, our delegation converged with the other nine delegations in Washington, DC. We visited with elected officials to garner support for our four-point agenda of legalization, family reunification, workers’ rights, and civil liberties. We particularly urged elected officials to sign on to the DREAM Act, which would allow undocumented immigrant students who graduate from U.S. high schools to attend college and to have an opportunity to obtain legal status.

Jose, a precocious community college student from Houston, shared his story of not being able to continue his education due to his immigration status. “My dream is to become a social justice activist as a professor of political philosophy. I already completed my bachelor’s degree in Paraguay, but my [immigration] status is preventing me from being able to enroll in a master’s program.”

The freedom ride culminated in a mass rally and festival in New York City, where an estimated 130,000 immigrants and their allies shared their stories, chanted, danced, and vowed that this was just the beginning of a long-lasting and powerful movement for immigrant rights. Beyond raising awareness about the hardships faced by immigrant workers, the Freedom Ride served to break down cultural barriers and create strong bonds between diverse immigrant communities and their allies.

One of the Houston Freedom Riders, Mario, aptly summarized the spirit of the Freedom Ride, when he chanted, “somos uno,” we are one.

Maya Raquel Anderson is a regional organizer in northern California for AFSC’s Project Voice.

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