Buses Are a Comin’: Memoir of a Freedom Rider
304 Pages
Publisher: St. martin’s Press
Release Date: April 27, 2021
Charles Person is troubled. He is smart and wants to be a scientist. He is accepted to MIT, but his family cannot afford to pay for it. He wants to go to Georgia Tech but in 1960, they are not accepting Blacks. His only option is to attend Morehouse College, a historic Black college and university, in Atlanta Georgia. He walks the few miles every day to attend classes. There he meets Lonnie King and Julian Bond with the rest of the Atlanta Student Movement.
After a sit-in at lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, local sit-ins were held. This wasn’t enough of an action, so the Freedom Ride bus trip was planned. Not everyone that applied was accepted which surprised Charles why he was selected. At only 18, he was the youngest rider.
This is an amazing story told in the first person. Charles does a great job recalling the experiences before, during, and after the Freedom Ride. I learned so much of this event that took place the year before I was born. If you are interested in the Civil Rights Movement, this is definitely a book to read.
