Interview With Delores Boyd (2009)

what happened with the Freedom Riders on Saturday, what happened? What I recall is that a busload of Black and whites traveling through the south to test public accommodations on the buses were met by a gang when they got to the Greyhound or the Trailways bus station, I believe at that time, and they were beaten, that law enforcement officers did not give them much protection at all. I knew that. And in preparation for the mass meeting, I recall there were telephone calls to various people saying there will be a mass meeting. There may have been flyers. I don't recall precisely, but the purpose of the mass meeting the next night was to show support for the Freedom Riders. We expected to see them, and we expected to hear from them firsthand on what had happened on the buses. Do you remember when you... At this mass meeting... Talk about what a mass meeting was and the importance of a mass meeting. Mass meeting was an extension of church in the Black community.

The mass meetings that occurred in Montgomery, Alabama in the late 50s and continued for at least another decade to 15 years started as a direct response to Jim Crow laws in Montgomery, Alabama. First of all, the Jim Crow laws on the city buses. After Rosa Parks was arrested, an organization called the Montgomery Improvement Association was established, established as a matter of fact inside my own church, the Mount Zion A.M.E. Zion Church. The first leader was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It was that association which organized the year-long boycott. Even after the boycott succeeded, the association was still necessary. And the way it operated was to have a mass meeting every Monday night. The purpose was

to keep the community galvanized, to let the community know in what direction the civil rights movement was taking. And I recall as a child going to those Monday night mass meetings just as I went to church on Sunday, just as I went to regular school during the week. I was reared in a family which supported the civil rights movement, and thus the Monday night mass meeting was my introduction to civil rights protest. Can you guys cut for a minute? Yes. ...for us because after the bus boycotts, you know...You want me to start with defining a mass... Let's give it another try. Ok. Talk about mass meetings. The mass meeting I attended on the Sunday following