Charles Person, shown on the screen, one of the last surviving Freedom Riders who fought for civil rights in the South, spoke via Zoom at Grace College’s chapel service in the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center on Tuesday, Jan. 17. On stage is former Warsaw Community Schools’ language arts teacher Richard Rooker, who co-authored Person’s memoir “Buses Are a Comin’.” InkFreeNews photo by Leah Sander.

By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

WINONA LAKE — Charles Person was 18 when he opted to test whether black people in the South could travel normally with white people via public transportation.

His mature decision at that young age helped change America.

Person, one of the last two surviving members of the original 13 Freedom Riders, spoke at Grace College’s chapel service on Tuesday, Jan. 17, in the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center, as part of honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

He appeared via Zoom from his home in Fayetteville, Ga., as health issues prevented him from traveling. Also speaking Tuesday was Richard Rooker, who co-authored Person’s memoir “Buses Are a Comin’.”

Rooker, a former Warsaw Community Schools language arts teacher, has known Person for about 15 years, having met him when Rooker’s son was working on a project about the Freedom Riders for a national history competition.

Person first started fighting for civil rights while a Morehouse College freshman in Atlanta, Ga., said Rooker.

Through the Atlanta Student Movement, “he and thousands of black students protested, went to jail and … Charles was thrown in solitary confinement at 18 for multiple days … but by doing that they desegregated the city of Atlanta,” said Rooker.

Person was later the youngest person to join with the Riders, who in 1961 decided to see if black people could travel normally on public transportation in the South. The interracial group’s goal was to travel from Washington, D.C., to New Orleans, La., via bus.

As Person noted, the group was met with strong opposition.

In South Carolina, several members of the group were attacked. They were attacked again in Alabama on their way to Birmingham.

In that incident, several members were severely beaten, and others forced to sit in the back of the bus.

“When we got near the back of the bus, they physically threw us in a pile,” said Person. “They sat there and they taunted us all the way to Birmingham.”

When members of the group arrived there, “a whole wall of men came towards us,” said Person. He was being beaten when someone tried to photograph the incident.

“The flash startled (the people beating me), and they simply let me go,” said Person.

Person got on a city bus and got off near a phone booth. He called a pastor for help, with the church’s deacons picking him up. He then tried to see a doctor.

“All three (of the city’s black doctors) refused to treat me,” said Person.

A nurse from that church put a bandage on his scalp to treat that wound. Person would later develop a huge knot from it.

No one would take the Freedom Riders from Birmingham to New Orleans by bus, so they flew there.

After the first group’s trip was concluded, others became Freedom Riders.

“In the end, there were 436 Freedom Riders,” said Person, with half being black and the rest white and 25% of them women.

“It proved one thing more than anything, that in America when you work together no matter how difficult the task, you can be successful,” said Person. “There were costs to be paid and there (were) people that paid a very dear price, but in the end, we were successful because we … wanted to make America better.”

Rooker then asked Person how he stayed peaceful even when others were violent toward him.

“We didn’t want to do anything that would bring discredit upon the movement, the people who were our leaders and upon the fact that we wanted people to know that we were a part of this country,” answered Person. “We prayed a lot … We didn’t have elaborate prayers; our prayers were rather simplistic but they were direct to God and they were words like ‘Lord, help me,’ ‘Lord, protect me.'”