English

Noun

freedom rider ‎(plural freedom riders)

1. (politics, public policy) In the United States during the 1960s, a civil rights activist who participated in one or more bus trips, known as freedom rides, through parts of the southern U. S. to demonstrate opposition to racial prejudice and segregation.
   • 1961, "‘Freedom Ride’ Must Continue—Rev. King," Sarasota Journal, 23 May, p. 2 (retrieved 29 Aug. 2010):

     A Negro leader said today the "freedom riders" whose arrival here touched off race riots last Saturday will continue their test of Southern bus station segregation barriers. . . . [T]he Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. . . told a news conference the group met for four hours last night and decided that "the freedom ride must continue."

2. (politics, public policy) A participant in one or more of the similar excursions undertaken by protesters in Australia during the 1960s, in opposition to unfair discrimination against Aborigines.

Synonyms

• desegregationist

See also

• desegregation, Jim Crow, racial integration