Freedom Riders National Monument
| Freedom Riders National Monument | |
|---|---|
The former Greyhound station in October 2017 | |
| Location | Anniston, Alabama |
| Coordinates | 33°38′6″N 85°54′30″W / 33.63500°N 85.90833°W |
| Area | 7.83 acres |
| Website | Freedom Riders National Monument |
| Designated | January 12, 2017 |
The Freedom Riders National Monument is a United States National Monument in Anniston, Alabama. It was established by President Barack Obama in January 2017 in order to preserve and commemorate Freedom Riders who travelled by bus in mixed black/white groups across the Deep South as part of a protest against racial segregation in Jim Crow states.
The monument marks the location of the Anniston bus attacks, in which two buses of Freedom Riders were violently attacked by white supremacists, all with the approval of the local police. The attacks were widely publicized, and are considered a significant event within the Civil Rights Movement.
The Freedom Riders National Monument is one of three National Monuments that was designated by presidential proclamation of President Obama on January 12, 2017. The second was the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument and the third, the Reconstruction Era National Historical Park, was re-designated as a National Historical Park on March 12, 2019.
The monument is administered by the National Park Service.