The Journey to Freedom

Charlotte, North Carolina, May 8–9, 1961

In the first significant confrontation of the CORE Freedom Ride, Joseph Perkins is arrested for trespassing as he attempts to have his shoes shined at a whites-only shoeshine chair. Perkins refuses to post bail and spends two nights (May 8 and 9) in jail. On May 10, Judge Howard B. Arbuckle finds Perkins innocent of the trespassing charge based on the precedent set in Boyton v. Virginia.