The end. It is near.
The end. It is near.
Opening day of the Sean Bell trial, outside the Queens County Courthouse. February 25, 2008.
Fiorello H. LaGuardia (1882-1947), the LIttle Flower, in the Marine Air Terminal, LaGaurdia Airport.
I-64. May 26, 2007.
Chester, Virginia. May 27, 2007.
Jackson, Mississippi. April 28, 2007.
Simón Bolívar, El Libertador (1783-1830). 6th Ave. & 59th St.
Fallon, Nevada. September 9, 2005.
Helen Singleton
Born November 27, 1932; Philadelphia
Arrested July 30, 1961; Train station, Jackson
Then Student, Santa Monica City College
Since then Arts administrator, now retired
Then and Now Marrried to Robert Singleton
Photographed August 24, 2005; Los Angeles
We went directly into the white waiting room and sat on the bench there. The chief of police simply said, "Are y’all gonna move?" He asked us one more time, and we didn’t. We were taken to the city jail.
The person booking us was using what looked like an elementary school composition book. He said, "What school do you go to?"
"Santa Monica City College."
"How do you spell 'Santa Monica'?" he said.
I was young at the time, and thought he should know how to spell.
— From Helen Singleton's oral history of her Freedom Rider experience (pdf available at Ole Miss's website):
Mug shot courtesy of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
Portrait © 2006 by Eric Etheridge
Robert Singleton
Born January 8, 1936, Philadelphia
Arrested July 30, 1961, Train station, Jackson
Then Graduate student, UCLA
Since then Economics professor, Loyola Marymount University
Then and now Married to Helen Singleton
Photographed August 24, 2005, Los Angeles
We were arrested immediately and put in the paddy wagon. That was interesting. There was one fellow by the name of Alan Kaufman, I haven’t seen him since then. He and I were sitting next to each other. A policeman came up on the side and looked in the window and said to me, "You’re a black son of a bitch, ain’t you?"
I said to him, "Isn’t that a beautiful color?"
He just froze. He didn’t know how to respond to that. And Al Kaufman just patted me on the back.
— From Robert Singleton's oral history of his Freedom Rider experience (pdf available at Ole Miss's website):
Mug shot courtesy of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
Portrait © 2006 by Eric Etheridge
Richard Steward
Born December 12, 1939; New Orleans
Arrested July 30, 1961; Train station, Jackson
Then Student, Dillard University (New Orleans)
Since then Los Angeles public school teacher, now retired
Photographed August 25, 2005; Los Angeles
Update February 2008: This series is now a book. Breach of Peace: Portraits of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders
See other portraits in the series | Read more about the project |
Pre-order now from Amazon
I had a friend whom I’d grown up with, we were running buddies, if you know what I mean. We did a lot of . . . things together. We lost track of each other, but when I found out about the Freedom Rides, I discovered he was helping organize the effort in New Orleans. I told him I wanted to be a Freedom Rider.
"You do something nonviolent?" he said. "That’s a laugh."
I insisted.
He said, "You’ll need training." I said fine.
Then he slapped me real hard. "OK," he said. "You’ve been trained."
— From an interview with the photographer.
Mug shot courtesy of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
Portrait © 2006 by Eric Etheridge
James Lawson
Born September 22, 1928; Union Town, PA
Arrested May 24, 1961; Trailways bus station, Jackson
Then Civil rights activist, Nashville
Since then Pastor, Holman United Methodist Church, Los Angeles, now retired
Photographed November 11, 2005; Los Angeles
Update February 2008: This series is now a book. Breach of Peace: Portraits of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders
See other portraits in the series | Read more about the project |
Pre-order now from Amazon
James Lawson spent three years as a missionary in India in the 1950s, where he also studied Gandhi's ideas about nonviolence. He returned to the States to do graduate work at Oberlin. There he met Martin Luther King Jr., who urged him to give up his studies and come South to put his ideas into action. Lawson moved to Nashville in 1958, and soon began holding a weekly workshop on nonviolence. Out of this came the Nashville Student Movement and, to a large extent, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
Teaching nonviolence in the ’50s was a major challenge because it was like teaching a foreign language — even though it was a language deeply rooted in the spirituality of Jesus, deeply rooted in the spirituality of many of the prophetic stories of the Hebrew bible.
So we had to try to show people that here was a magnificent history that was a secret that we were trying to unpack. That King was not a man from Mars but a man out of the black church and out of the black scriptures. And that nonviolence itself was a similar force untapped and unexplored. . . .
Also, we tried to insist that faith requires the confidence that you can walk through the valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil. You can come out unscathed because your own spirituality, your own soul remains one of integrity and truth no matter what goes on in your own environment.
— From an interview in This Far by Faith, a documentary on the African-American religious experience, which aired on PBS in 2003. The clip that contains these comments can be seen here (scroll down to the James Lawson video link toward the bottom of the page).
Mug shot courtesy of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
Portrait © 2006 by Eric Etheridge
Eugene Levine
Born December 26, 1926; New York City
Arrested June 19, 1961; train station, Jackson
Then English instructor, Oklahoma State University
Since then Real-estate developer, Boulder, CO
Photographed September 10, 2005; Boulder
Update February 2008: This series is now a book. Breach of Peace: Portraits of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders
See other portraits in the series | Read more about the project |
Pre-order now from Amazon
I drove straight from Stillwater [OK] to the Jackson train station and got arrested. The police saw I was alone — I hate joining groups — and older than the usual Freedom Rider. I told them I was a veteran — in the 101st Airborne in postwar Japan — and they said, we’re going to take you back to your car, and you can go home.
I told them they were stupid and trying to start a race war in Mississippi, and if they let me go, I would go back to the train station.
They let me go and I went back to the train station. The second time they arrested me they put me in jail.
— From an interview with the photographer.
Mug shot courtesy of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
Portrait © 2005 by Eric Etheridge
Stephen Green
Born May 22, 1940; Muncie, IN
Arrested June 10, 1961; Greyhound bus station, Jackson
Then Senior, Middlebury College
Now Vermont state legislator
Photographed May 14, 2005; Montpelier, VT
Update February 2008: This series is now a book. Breach of Peace: Portraits of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders
See other portraits in the series | Read more about the project |
Pre-order now from Amazon
In Parchman, I was in a cell next to Stokely Carmichael. I was young and full of excitement about what was happening in Mississippi.
The school year had just ended, and one day I said, "As soon as everyone at Harvard and Yale and the other schools hear what’s going on down here, all those students are going to come to Mississippi!"
From the next cell over, I hear Stokely say: "Hear that, everybody? The white boys and girls are going to come save us!"
— From an interview with the photographer.
Mug shot courtesy of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
Portrait © 2005 by Eric Etheridge
Just north of Greenwood, Mississippi. April 15, 2006.