Being arrested and fired from a job were some basic forms of intimidation during the Civil Rights Movement. Anyone of the two could bankrupt a family or make a difficult life worse. Yet locals and other droves of people made their way to Jackson and risked it all during the summer of 1961.

“We began a little jingle, ‘The freedom riders are coming to Jackson,’” sang Hezekiah Watkins during an interview with KPBS Public Media. “We were just happy, not happy that we wanted to join. We just wanted to see them, maybe touch one.”

Watkins, only 13 at the time, was literally pushed into the movement when he was pushed into the “Whites Only” session at the bus station. An officer hit him on the shoulder before he could beg out of the forbidden area. Mistaken as a Freedom Rider because he was from Milwaukee, WI, Watkins was subsequently arrested and placed on death row with no due process. Eleven days later, John F. Kennedy ordered his release. This traumatic experience spearheaded Watkins’ activism, which has since resulted in a total of 109 proud arrests.

The federal district court ruled that bus segregation was unconstitutional in the case of Browder v. Gayle in 1956. However, all over the South, as people protested and attempted to desegregate public locations, they were arrested and charged with “Breach of Peace,” a blanket violation used to cover any effort of Black people partaking in “Whites Only” areas and facilities and protesting, despite nearly all of them being peaceful.

Jackson’s former Greyhound bus station was the scene of many historic arrests in 1961 when Freedom Riders challenged the vigorously defended racial segregation during travel via public transit in the South. It was a time to stand for something, Black or white, because silence is complicity.

“The young people kept the movement going,” said Frank Figgers, a Program Manager for One Voice Mississippi and an avid advocate of civil rights and social justice. “They like to do things out in the open. All kinds of people were coming from all around, Black and white, taking buses, flying in, doing whatever they could to challenge segregation on public transportation.”

More than 300 people were arrested as they strived to desegregate the public transportation system in Jackson during the life-changing summer of 1961. As an intricate part of breaking the jail system, most protesters refused bail to max out capacity, but after a few weeks, those who pledged “jail no bail” were sent to the state prison at Parchman.

The constant unity from late spring throughout the summer, including constant protests, arrests, and press conferences, convinced the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to outlaw discriminatory seating on interstate buses and facilities.