The Journey to Freedom

Ardmore, Alabama, May 18, 1961

Seven Freedom Riders who had been arrested the previous day were transported from the Birmingham jail north to the Tennessee border. Early in the morning of May 18, Bull Connor and other police officers drive the Riders under cover of darkness to Ardmore, Alabama. The Riders are left on the side of a road and told to make their way back to Nashville. Instead, the Riders find refuge in the home of an elderly black couple. From Nashville, Diane Nash makes arrangements for a car to transport the Riders back to Birmingham the following day.