In the spring of 1961, civil rights activists, black and white, rode “Freedom Buses” into the American South to test a new Supreme Court ruling that barred segregation on interstate public transport. As soon as those buses entered Alabama they were attacked by white mobs. John Patterson, the Democratic state governor, merely stoked the tensions. He called the activists “rabble rousers” and declared: “We can’t act as nursemaids to agitators.” He refused to guarantee them safe passage through Alabama. He threatened to arrest federal marshals sent to protect them, while the police protection that he promised failed to materialise.

Source: The Times June 13, 2021 23:03 UTC