Context
In 1961, Judith Frieze, a recent graduate of Smith College, joined African American and white volunteers on a Freedom Ride to Jackson, Mississippi. Their purpose was to test Boynton v. Virginia, a Supreme Court case ordering the integration of restaurants and waiting rooms in bus terminals serving interstate bus routes. Frieze was arrested and held in jail for six weeks for her act of conscience, as were many Freedom Riders. After her release, The Boston Globe ran a series of articles, written in Frieze’s voice by a reporter who had interviewed her. Below are excerpts from those articles, grouped thematically rather than presented in the order they were printed. (The themes at the top of each section were added by the Jewish Women’s Archive.) Note that some of the text in the original articles was printed in bold type, and has been reproduced that way below.