In May 1961, civil rights activists embark on a coordinated and courageous test of federally desegregated buses in the South: 13 multiracial Freedom Riders take buses from DC to New Orleans, ignoring persistent rules that Black riders sit in the back. Riders suffer beatings and arrest for defying segregated waiting rooms and lunch counters along the way. On May 14, in Anniston, Alabama, one of two buses is mobbed and firebombed, and riders are assaulted while police turn a blind eye. KKK members board the other bus and force Black riders to the back. In Birmingham, the police clear the way for the KKK to attack riders on both buses.

Over the summer, over 400 people defy segregation while riding buses in the South. In November, new regulations force an end to segregated interstate travel.