C.O.R.E. and the Journey of Reconciliation

In the aftermath of World War II, a rising tide of challenges to segregation in the South led to racial tensions. In 1946, the U. S. Supreme Court held that state laws requiring segregation on interstate buses and trains were unconstitutional. However, bus companies across the South simply ignored the order.

In the spring of 1947, members of the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE) decided to test the enforcement of court’s decision by sending teams of bus riders through the Upper South to challenge segregation through non-violent means based on the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. This was the origin of the “Journey of Reconciliation,” a precursor to the Freedom Rides of 1960-1961.

On April 11, the Greyhound bus left Petersburg for Raleigh while the Trailways headed to Durham. While passing through Oxford, the Greyhound bus driver sent for the police when Rustin refused to move from his seat in the front of the bus. The police refused to make an arrest, and the bus instead was delayed for forty-five minutes while neither the driver nor Rustin would budge.