Autobiography of a Freedom Rider

May 30, 2011
Published on the heels of the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Riders, Armstrong offers a stunning, sometimes emotionally wrenching first-person account of growing up on the frontlines of the Civil Rights struggle. While studying at the trade-oriented Prentiss Institute, Armstrong, a native of Lucas, Miss., became intensely involved in the movement that made massive tectonic shifts in civil rights for African-Americans. "Those dark and difficult days...are experiences that I no longer wish to relive. For more than 40 years, I refused to share those experiences with anyone," Armstrong reflects. Indeed, some of the horrifying situations he witnessed and endured may have driven him to alcoholism in the mid-1960s, but a 1987 DUI prompted him to teetotal from then on. The most interesting aspects of Armstrong's story are those detailing the forming of CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) and the SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), along with his friendship with fellow Freedom Rider Joan Trumpauer Mulholland. Armstrong's narrative is also noteworthy because it pairs personal details with infamous events from that era, including his reaction to the Emmett Till murder and his disillusionment following the De La Beckwith case (the victim, Medgar Evers, was Armstrong's mentor). As told to journalist Natalie Bell, the writing is at times scattered and even sloppy but is nevertheless an important resource for Civil Rights researchers.