American LEGACY Fall 2008 Cover: 'Then & Now: The Freedom Riders of 1961'

From American Legacy The Magazine of African American History & Culture.
~LT

Letter From The Publisher
A Week To Remember

"When I began reviewing layouts for the cover of this issue of American Legacy, I was a little taken aback by the choices that were presented by my editor and art director for my consideration. My first thought was that I did not want to show a mug shot of a black person on the magazine’s cover. We have all heard the statistics, that one in nine black men ages 20 to 34 is in prison. So at first glance I vetoed the idea.



"But as I studied the layouts further and turned to the book from which the pictures had come—Breach of Peace: Photographs of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders, by Eric Etheridge—I began to see things from a different perspective. I read the captions in the book and looked at the faces of the people depicted: men and women, some black and some white, in the mug shots from all those years ago and the recent portraits taken by Etheridge. It dawned on me that like the civil rights activists from the 1950s whom we wrote about in our Fall 2006 issue (Flashback, “Worth Getting Arrested For”), each of these individuals wore his or her mug shot identification plaque as a badge of honor, with a sense of pride.

"They came from all sectors of life, from different backgrounds, from different parts of the country, in support of a cause that was greater than the embarrassment of being arrested and put in jail. They were fighting to desegregate interstate travel, one more step toward gaining equal rights for all. Their cause was greater than their own safety, as they often put their very lives on the line. It was a cause that would ultimately touch the lives of all Americans.

"It’s breathtaking to think that we stand on the threshold of the very possible election of America’s first black President. During the same summer that Barack Obama was born, individuals from across the country came together to participate in the Freedom Rides just so that black Americans could sit in bus station waiting rooms and eat at lunch counters with whites. Who could have guessed half a century ago that the events that were taking place would come to bear such fruit in 2008? The fact that people from all corners stood together during the civil rights movement was critical to its success. As we look toward the future of America, I would say the need for unity remains critical. Black and white Freedom Riders and other activists proudly wore their “badges of honor.” I, for one, am glad that they did."

RODNEY J. REYNOLDS, Publisher