Extra Credit Opp: tonite, PBS, 9 pm--FREEDOM RIDERS; watch and answer questions

QUESTIONS: FREEDOM RIDERS Documentary on PBS

Choose 3 questions from each group. Answer in a short paragraph (3-5 sentences)

Connections A

1. As you watch, read, and listen to the stories of the Freedom Riders, what stands out? Why do you think they joined the cause? If you were to describe a Freedom Rider, what words would you use?

6. Diane Nash recalls feeling “stifled” by segregation when she moved to Nashville. How did Nash respond?

7. Nash explains that while she knew about segregation, it wasn’t until she actually encountered “black only” and “white only” water fountains, and other symbols of segregation, that she had an “emotional” reaction to it. What does she mean? What is the difference between knowing about something and having an emotional reaction to it?

8. How does Joan Mulholland explain why she joined the Freedom Riders? Why do you think she felt like it was particularly important for her, as a white southerner, to join the cause?

Connections B

2. What words do people in the film use to describe the state of race relations at the time of the Freedom Rides?

5. If you could speak to the people in the historical footage, what would you want to say to them?

6. Based on the film how do you think ideas about race shaped the way people lived their lives in the 1960s? To what extent do ideas about race shape your community today?

7. Why do you think activists decided to focus their desegregation efforts on interstate buses? Why were buses important? What did they represent?

Connections C

1. How would you describe the philosophy of nonviolence? What do you think advocates of nonviolence believe about human behavior?

7. Thoreau and Gandhi, writers and activists whose ideas inspired the African American freedom struggle in the United States, believed that there are times for civil disobedience—when behaving justly requires people to break the law. Can a democracy survive when people choose which laws to follow and which laws not to follow? How might a believer in the need for civil disobedience answer that question?

8. What role did nonviolent activists hope the media would play in the freedom movement? To what extent do you think they were successful in using the media spotlight during the Freedom Rides? How did nonviolent protesters believe people would respond to images of the Freedom Rides?Viewing

Connections E

2. Understanding the potential danger, the original organizers of the Freedom Rides made sure to get parental permission from younger participants. How do you think the Freedom Riders explained their desire to participate to their parents? If you were the parent of a Freedom Rider, how would you decide whether or not to let your child participate? What factors do you think these parents considered?

3. Despite warnings both from family members and other civil rights supporters, the Freedom Riders decided to go ahead with their journey. How do you explain their decision to carry out their plans despite the very real danger?

9. What factors influenced Rev. Martin Luther King’s decision not to join the Riders? Why do you think some of the Freedom Riders were disappointed by his decision not to participate directly? Why do you think Lafayette advised King not to join the Rides?

10. What lessons might people trying to address issues of injustice

today learn from the Freedom Rides?