Freedom Riders in Birmingham

Freedom Riders, from left, John Lewis, Charles Butler, Catherine Burks Brooks, Lucretia Collins, and Salynn McCollum sit on a bench in the Birmingham Greyhound station on May 17, 1961. Soon after the photo was taken, the group was arrested and later released in a rural all-white area on the orders of Birmingham commissioner of public safety Eugene "Bull" Connor.

Courtesy of the Birmingham News. All rights reserved. Used with permission.