A time to remember.

[Photographer]

After a bus full of Freedom Riders was firebombed in front of her house in Anniston, Alabama on 1961, 12-year-old Janie Forsyth McKinney defied a hate-filled mob to perform a heroic act of compassion. At the time, civil rights activists were conducting "Freedom Rides" throughout the southern United States during which groups of blacks and whites would ride interstate buses together in violation of local segregation laws. The Freedom Riders, who were predominantly college students, were met with hostility and violence in many locations, including famously in Anniston where a mob attacked the bus and lit it on fire with the Freedom Riders trapped inside.

The mob forced the bus to stop right outside of McKinney's home. She witnessed smoke billowing out the burning bus and, after an exploding fuel tank forced the crowd back, she watched the riders pour out and get beaten by the mob. In an interview with the UCLA Today, she recalled that "They were so sick by then they were crawling and puking and rasping for water. They could hardly talk.”

Horrified by the scene before her, the 7th grader ran into her house for a bucket of water and cups and pushed through the violent crowd to reach the bloodied riders laying on the ground. She first went up to an elderly black woman who reminded her of her nanny, Pearl. She recalled, "I started with her. I took her a glass of water. I washed her face. I held her. I gave her water her to drink and as soon as I thought that she was going to be okay, I got up and picked out somebody else." McKinney knew that her actions would anger the local KKK but she explained that she was driven by one of her favorite passages of scripture, "Whatever you do to the least of my brothers, you do it to me."

For 15 or 20 minutes, she said, the police let the violence continue until they finally dispersed the crowd by firing warning shots into the air. After ambulances took the riders to a local hospital, officials announced it was closed and left them in the waiting room. "It took a black minister from Birmingham to form a convoy to come and pick them up and take them back to Birmingham,” she explained.

Although the violence was over, the repercussions for McKinney for her courageous act had just begun. She learned later that the local KKK discussed whether to try her as an adult for undermining them. Ultimately, the Klan decided that she was a "mentally deficient" child and took no action. But, life was never the same for her after that day. McKinney recalled how it "was such a black mark on my family that nobody — not even my father — would talk about it. I was the black sheep. I got ostracized in school by some hard-core Klan kids."

For years, McKinney believed that her father, in particular, had never forgiven her for her actions that day. After her father passed away and Pearl was on her death bed, McKinney asked her if this was the case and finally learned the truth. Pearl told her, "No, child. That’s not right. He told me he had never been prouder of you than he was on that day.” So too McKinney remains proud of her decision to act on that fateful May day many years ago: "All I know is that if I had made any other choice, I would have had to live with that. I’m proud of the choice I made. I think it was a moral choice, a humane choice, a spiritual choice. I wouldn’t undo it for anything.”

To watch a 5-minute documentary in which McKinney recounts her experience in Anniston that day, visit http://bit.ly/1g46cg0 -- or read more in the UCLA Today at http://bit.ly/1B0jt3Q

To learn more about the history of the Freedom Rides, check out the excellent book "Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice" (http://amzn.to/1IEffFl) and the accompanying documentary "American Experience: Freedom Riders" (http://amzn.to/1FnXtah).

To introduce young people to the girls and women of the Civil Rights Movement, we've compiled over 40 books for children and teens in our special feature on the "Top Mighty Girl Books on Civil Rights History" at http://www.amightygirl.com/mighty-girl…/civil-rights-history

For Civil Rights Movement-themed books for readers 4 to 8, we recommend "I Am Rosa Parks" (http://www.amightygirl.com/i-am-rosa-parks-1), "The Story of Ruby Bridges" (http://www.amightygirl.com/the-story-of-ruby-bridges), "Lillian's Right to Vote" (http://www.amightygirl.com/lillian-s-right-to-vote), "White Socks Only" (http://www.amightygirl.com/white-socks-only).

For tween and teen readers, we recommend "The Lions of Little Rock" for ages 10 to 13 (http://www.amightygirl.com/the-lions-of-little-rock), "Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice" for 10 and up (http://www.amightygirl.com/claudette-colvin-twice-toward-ju…), "Fire From The Rock" for 12 and up (http://www.amightygirl.com/fire-from-the-rock), and "Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High" for 12 and up (http://www.amightygirl.com/warriors-don-t-cry).

[ljm2002]

1. Thanks for this post...

...I had never heard of this incident.

What a kind and brave woman.

K&R

[Photographer]

2. And at her age... Brave indeed.