The Long Journey North: The Reverse Freedom Rides of 1962
In the summer of 1962, white segregationists fuming about the Civil Rights Movement concocted a plan to expose what they saw as the hypocrisy of liberal northern cities. They tricked and coerced extremely poor African Americans from the South to board buses bound for Northern cities that professed support for racial integration. The largest number – almost 100 people – were sent to Hyannis, MA, where they were told they would have jobs, housing, and would even meet President Kennedy. None of it was true. The “Reverse Freedom Rides,” as they were called, have largely disappeared from the country’s collective memory, but some see echoes of this dark past in America’s present-day immigration debate.