Black History

Freedom Riders museum opens in Montgomery, Ala.

10:52 AM on 05/20/2011

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An unidentified young Black 'Freedom Rider' is told to leave a segregated 'white' waiting room at a bus depot in Jackson, Mississippi, May 26, 1961. (Photo by Express Newspapers/Getty Images)

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- Montgomery's former Greyhound Bus Station is reopening as a museum honoring the Freedom Riders on the 50th anniversary of the day they were attacked in the capital city.

The Alabama Historical Commission has prepared the museum in downtown Montgomery and says several of the original Freedom Riders, including Georgia Rep. John Lewis, are scheduled to attend the dedication at 10 a.m. Friday.

The Freedom Riders were trying to integrate Southern bus stations when they arrived in Montgomery on May 20, 1961. They were beaten by an angry white mob because no law enforcement officers were on hand.

The new museum is a few blocks from some of Montgomery's other civil rights attractions, including the Rosa Parks Library, the Civil Rights Memorial and the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church.