08/30/2026
Repost Martise Chism
A lot of people may not know this, but by default, I became the person responsible for creating and maintaining the Freedom Riders bus list.
Whenever someone signed up to host a bus, their information was forwarded to me so I could add their group to the list and begin the process of securing a bus. Each group was required to provide a bus captain, contact number, pickup location, departure time and a list of 55 riders.
Along the way, I built real relationships with our bus captains—especially those who desperately wanted to make the journey but were struggling to reach 55 riders. I believed many people would sign up at the last minute, and sure enough, they did. Some groups reached 55 riders on their own. Others filled their buses by merging with neighboring groups after the cutoff date.
They did everything that was asked of them. Their riders registered. They took off work. Parents prepared their children. Bus captains organized their paperwork and brought everyone to the pickup locations. They were ready to travel that Freedom Highway to Washington, D.C.
Then, without warning, the buses never came.
Before any of this happened, something in my spirit told me, “Your buses are not going to make it to Washington because history is about to repeat itself.”
And sure enough, on August 28, 2026, my two Freedom Buses—NAN Greater Memphis and Hernando, Mississippi—along with many other Southern Freedom Buses, did not make it to the 63rd Anniversary of the March on Washington.
But not reaching Washington does not mean they were not part of the March.
In 1961, the Freedom Ride bus that was attacked and burned outside Anniston, Alabama, never reached its destination. Yet that bus—and the courageous riders aboard it—became one of the most important stories in civil-rights history.
When the history of the 63rd Anniversary of the March on Washington is written, it must not only tell the story of the 25,000 people who made it to Washington. It must also tell the story of the Freedom Riders who packed their bags, arrived at their pickup locations and waited for buses that never came.
They did not reach the destination, but they became part of the history.
And just like the Freedom Riders before them, they will press forward in the fight for justice, voting rights and freedom.
The buses didn’t make it—but the movement is still moving.
We Ride. We Vote. We Rise.
