Officials in a North Carolina county recently vacated the sentences of civil rights activist Bayard Rustin and three other original Freedom Riders 75 years after they were charged.
On Friday, the officials in Orange County held a special session to annul the sentences of Rustin, Andrew Johnson, James Felmet and Igal Roodenko. In 1947, the men were all sentenced to work in a North Carolina chain gang for 30 days for participating in the first of the Freedom Rides.
Presided over by Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour who provided the research for the exoneration, the session consisted of about 100 guests, including the niece of Igal Roodenko, and was held in the same courthouse the men were charged in, according to AP News. Rustin’s partner, Walter Naegle, was also given an opportunity to speak through Zoom.
“While this judicial action is taking place 75 years after the injustice occurred, never should we falter in examining past wrongs, seeking reparation, and lifting those heavy burdens from our hearts and minds so that future generations may know justice,” said the Chair of the Orange County Board of Commissioners, Renée Price, in a statement. “We also must recognize the brave individuals who stood up in the face of Jim Crow to demand our humanity and our liberation.”
“Seeking legal redress for Roodenko, Rustin, Felmet and Johnson as we prepare for the Juneteenth holiday is timely and relevant,” she added.
An activist since his college days, Rustin became ingrained in the Civil Rights Movement after leaving the Young Communist League in search of an organization with more focus on civil rights issues.
In 1941, he became part of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, served as a youth organizer for the planned 1941 March on Washington and helped start the Congress of Racial Equality, or CORE, alongside activists such as James Farmer.
As the Civil Rights Movement began to gain momentum and Rustin continued to rally supporters at events, he and the other men in CORE’s Journey of Reconciliation, also known as the first Freedom Ride, were arrested for participating in the test on Southern state laws concerning segregation on bus travels and refusing to move to the back of the bus.
For 22 days, Rustin, Roodenko, Felmet and Johnson labored in the chain gang, digging holes and refilling them each day.
During his time there, Rustin compiled a report titled “22 Days on a Chain Gang.” Based on conversations with other prisoners, the report featured the education level, previous brushes with the law and other personal information of the prisoners. The report also detailed the atmosphere, such as the work songs being sung, and the punishments by the guards.
Upon its publication in newspapers as a five-part series, “22 Days on a Chain Gang” helped fuel a conversation on the usage of chain gangs as a prison system.
The move to vacate the men’s sentences comes almost a month after the county held a formal ceremony to apologize for sentencing the men in 1947.
“The Orange County Court was on the wrong side of the law in May 1947, and it was on the wrong side of history,” said officials in a statement for the ceremony. “Today, we stand before our community on behalf of all five District Court Judges for Orange and Chatham Counties and accept the responsibility entrusted to us to do our part to eliminate racial disparities in our justice system.”
