Freedom Riders Freedom Riders were a group of civil right activists that comprised of college students and leaders of various racial equality organizations. This group included blacks and whites that would ride in buses and test the segregation laws in the south. Segregation was practiced around the country but seemed to be worse down south especially in Birmingham, Alabama. Angry mobs attacked the bus they broke windows, slashed its tires, and threw a firebomb through the window. The mob violently beat the Freedom Riders with iron bars and clubs while the bus burned. The second bus was also attacked. Violence followed both buses to Birmingham where a mob beat the Freedom Riders while the police and the FBI watched and did nothing. It is awful to see that these students, women and men were being attacked while the authorities stood around and did nothing to protect them. We see here in this example where Police Commissioner Bull Connor and Police Sergeant Tom Cook organized a violence towards the freedom riders by assuring an FBI informer that they would have fifteen minutes to attack without any arrests being made. Despite all the violence and attacks towards them they still continued their journey. If they quit now it would be years of setback. People were so set on taking a stand on this that some quit school to become a freedom rider, they signed over their wills knowing that death could be a high possibility for them all. Eventually the Freedom Riders