The Greyhound Bus Station at 219 N. Lamar St.,
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city sits on the Pearl River (Mississippi–Louisiana), Pearl River and is locate ...
, was the site of many arrests during the May 1961
Freedom Rides
Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated Southern United States in 1961 and subsequent years to challenge the non-enforcement of the United States Supreme Court decisions '' Morgan v. Virginia' ...
of the
Civil Rights Movement. The
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...
building has been preserved and currently functions as an architect's office.
Construction
In 1937,
Greyhound Lines
Greyhound Lines, Inc. is an American operator of Intercity bus service, intercity bus services. Greyhound operates the largest intercity bus network in the United States, and also operates charter and Amtrak Thruway services, as well as interci ...
contracted for a new bus station in Jackson, Mississippi. Incorporating a
streamlined
Streamlines, streaklines and pathlines are field lines in a fluid flow.
They differ only when the flow changes with time, that is, when the flow is not steady flow, steady.
Considering a velocity vector field in three-dimensional space in the f ...
style and vertical, illuminated "Greyhound" marquee, it is unique for its structural glass exterior. When operating as a bus station, the building included a coffeeshop and bathing facilities.
Sources differ on whether the station is the work of
W.S. Arrasmith or George Mahan Jr. and Nowland Van Powell of Memphis, Tennessee.
Freedom Ride to Jackson, Mississippi
Freedom Riders
Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the Racial segregation in the United States, segregated Southern United States, Southern United States in 1961 and subsequent years to challenge the non-enforcement of t ...
were
civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...
activists who rode interstate buses into the
segregated southern United States
The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...
, in 1961 and subsequent years, to challenge the non-enforcement of the
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...
decisions which had ruled segregated public buses to be unconstitutional.
Jackson, Mississippi was planned as a stop on the Freedom Rides of May 1961. On May 28 that year, nine Freedom Riders arrived at the Greyhound Bus Station. Other groups had arrived four days earlier. Upon arrival, riders would seek access to facilities denied to non-whites, such as waiting areas designated "Whites Only." During the next four months, 329 people were arrested in the town, half of them black and half of them white, with a quarter being women.
Part of the Freedom Riders' strategy was to overwhelm Jackson city jails by refusing bail. When Jackson's jails were full of riders arrested at Trailways and Greyhound facilities, Freedom Riders were transferred to
Parchman penitentiary.
Preservation
Located within the southeast boundary of the
Farish Street Neighborhood Historic District, the building was acquired by architect Robert Parker Adams in 1988; his firm restored the station's exterior and interior. The state of Mississippi has placed an explanatory marker at the site.
See also
*
Farish Street Neighborhood Historic District, Jackson, Mississippi
References
External links
Greyhound Bus Station - Mississippi Freedom Trailin the Historical Marker Database
by Robert Parker Adams, Architect
Mississippi Freedom TrailGoogle Map of Farish Street Neighborhood Historic DistrictPhoto of historic plaque
{{Civil rights movement
Civil rights protests in the United States
Bus stations in Mississippi
African-American history of Mississippi
Greyhound Lines
National Register of Historic Places in Jackson, Mississippi
Civil rights movement
Bus stations on the National Register of Historic Places
Transportation buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Mississippi
1938 establishments in Mississippi
Transportation in Hinds County, Mississippi