Benjamin Elton Cox
Home: High Point, NC
Age: 30
Race: Black
Occupation: Minister, CORE secretary
The preacher and longtime civil rights activist was arrested 17 times over the course of several decades. Prior to retirement, he served as minister at Pilgrim Congregational Church in High Point, NC, as chaplain at the VA Hospital in Urbana, IL, and as a middle school counselor in Jackson, TN. —PBS Freedom Riders. Read his complete bio and watch the PBS documentary.
The First Amendment Center conducted an interview with Cox in 2007 about his involvement in the civil rights movement. Read the interview transcript.
Annie Lumpkin
Home: St. Louis, MO
Age: 18
Race: Black
Occupation: Student
The youngest of the Freedom Riders detained in Little Rock, Lumpkins was not arrested but ordered by Police Chief Glascock to return to St. Louis on the next available bus. (Source: Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice by Raymond Arsenault.)
Bliss Anne Malone
Home: St. Louis, MO
Age: 23
Race: Black
Occupation: Public school teacher
John Curtis Raines
Home: Long Island, NY
Age: 27
Race: White
Occupation: Pastor
Raines is currently a professor of theology at Temple University and is the author of Attack on Privacy (1974), Illusions of Success (1975), Modern Work and Human Meaning (1986), and The Justice Men Owe Women: Positive Resources from World Religions (2001). Recently, Fred Rowland from Temple University library sat down with Raines for a series of interviews about his experience during the Freedom Rides.
Listen to the interview with John Raines, Freedom Rider – Temple University Library News
Janet Reinitz
Home: New York, NY
Age: 23
Race: White
Occupation: Artist, Homemaker
A New York City muralist, Reinitz channeled her experience as a Freedom Rider into an ongoing platform of non-violent activism. She is the creator of more than 50 community-centered murals and recently published On the Wall: Four Decades of Community Murals in New York City.
The University of Mississippi interviewed Reinitz in 2001 as part of their 40th Anniversary oral history project. Watch the full video interview with Reinitz.
