"Freedom Riders is the powerful harrowing and ultimately inspirational story of six months in 1961 that changed America forever. More than 400 black and white Americans risked their lives for simply traveling together on buses and trains as they journeyed through the Deep South. Deliberately violating Jim Crow laws in order to test and challenge a segregated interstate travel system, the Freedom Riders met with bitter racism and mob violence along the way, sorely testing their belief in nonviolent activism."

Following the film, a panel will speak and lead discussion and Q&A, including
-Scott Ellsworth, Lecturer in AfroAmerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan
-Ronald Woods, Lecturer in AfroAmerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan and Professor of Africology and African American Studies at Eastern Michigan University

This event is free and co-sponsored by U-M Michigan Community Scholars Program and the Ann Arbor District Library. Contact Michigan Community Scholars Program with questions at mcsprogram@umich.edu