Hump Day History
In June of 1946, the Supreme Court decision in Morgan v. Virginia mandated segregation on interstate buses was unconstitutional. On this day in 1947, the Congress of Racial Equality sent 16 black and white activists on a bus tour in the South to test this, known as the Journey of Reconciliation.
On April 13, after arriving the day before, riders boarded in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. They attempted to sit at the front of the bus and the driver refused, removing some by force. They were then attacked by a mob of angry cab drivers, and four men were arrested for disorderly conduct.
The riders ultimately fled Chapel Hill to Greensboro by car because of threats of violence.
It wasn't until 1955 that Rosa Parks initiated the protests against having to sit in the back of the bus.
In 1939, Marian Anderson was an international superstar. But here in her home country, she was not allowed on many stages. She was specifically denied to perform at Constitution Hall in Washington DC, operated by the Daughters of the American Revolution. (This led to Eleanor Roosevelt resigning from the organization).
An invitation to perform on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial came from the Secretary of the Interior, Harold Ickes, and he introduced her saying, "Genius draws no color line."
It was Easter Sunday.
