May 14, 1961 was a quiet Mother's Day throughout most of Alabama, yet in Anniston and Birmingham events took place that made news around the world.  Violence in Alabama catapulted the story of the Freedom Rides into the national consciousness when images of the Greyhound bus smoldering on a roadside near Anniston made the news wires.  Today the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI) owns a collection of 64 photographs taken during the bus burning incident.

Beginning May 9, 2006, visitors may see 48 of these images when the exhibition Courage Under Fire: The 1961 Burning of the Freedom Riders' Bus opens in the Odessa Woolfolk Gallery for display through June 25.   The Anniston law firm of Merrill, Merrill, Matthews and Allen, LLC, donated the photographs to BCRI in 2004. Because 2006 marks the 45^th anniversary of the Freedom Rides, BCRI decided to exhibit the photos this spring. "The Freedom Rides exhibit is important because it marks the first time BCRI has created an exhibition of this scale from our own collections," says Laura Anderson, Assistant Archivist.  "And while the individual photographs are chilling, the images as a set serve to raise important questions about the roles of law enforcement, violence and the media during pivotal Civil Rights Movement events like the firebombing of the Freedom Riders' bus on Mother's Day 1961."
 
On Friday, May 12, 2006, BCRI will provide the public an opportunity to hear from and meet Freedom Ride veterans Hank Thomas and Bill Harbour of Atlanta and Catherine Burks Brooks of Birmingham.  Thomas will speak about the CORE Freedom Ride and surviving the bus burning incident outside Anniston.  Brooks, a Birmingham native and resident, and Harbour, a Piedmont, AL native, will speak about their experiences as members of a group of student activists from Nashville who took up the Freedom Rides following the violence in Alabama.  The event begins at 6:00pm in the Woods Community Meeting Room.  It is free and open to the public.
 
For more information, call Laura Anderson, BCRI Assistant Archivist, at 205-328-9696, ext. 215. Gallery hours: Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Saturday 1-5 p.m.