You can edit almost every page by Creating an account. Otherwise, see the FAQ.

Miller G. Green

From EverybodyWiki Bios & Wiki





Miller G. Green was a Freedom Rider, born May 19, 1943 in Bentonia, Mississippi, and grew up in Jackson[1]. When Miller was 18 he worked at the Dollar Store as a senior at Lanier High School and participated in the Civil Rights Movement[2]. He is now in the 1961 Freedom Riders Roll Call as a veteran of the Civil Rights Movement and mentioned in the long lists that both Breach of Peace and The Freedom Riders disclose with utmost respect.[3][1][2]

Miller G. Green recently photographed for Breach of Peace

The Movement:[edit]

Arrested on July 7, 1961, at the Trailways bus station, Miller now gets to tell of his experiences before and after the Freedom Rides in interviews such as with MLive:[4]

Miller first walked through the "white entrance" at his local bus station in Jackson, Mississippi. A white onlooker called him slurs and warned him not to got through. "I heard another voice that said, 'Don't look back, or everyone behind you is going to leave you,' and I didn't look back, and I walked in." Said Miller.[4]

Now in his mid-60s, Miller was interviewed by Eric Ethridge, who put Miller's profile in his book, "Breach of Peace: Portraits of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders" in 2008.[1] Miller was one of hundreds of black and white students, who organized and traveled to bus stations throughout the South to prove that segregation of bus station's, which had been outlawed by the supreme court, was still being enforced.[4] Freedom Riders left from Washington D.C., and and were expected to travel to New Orleans but were ambushed in Montgomery and Birmingham Alabama, where they were beaten by a mob consisting of the Ku Klux Klan.[4][5]

In Birmingham, riders were beaten for 20 minutes before the police arrived, by then the riders were stressed out and most of them injured.[5] By the time the riders reached Jackson, local officials finally agreed to give them police protection, then arrested all the riders for protesting in the first place.[5] After Miller and the others entered the bus station, someone had called the police.[4] "I had never seen a machine gun before, it looked like all of the Jackson Police Department was out there." Explained Mr. Green.[1]

Miller was brought t the city jail after being arrested. He was among more than 350 riders arrested during that summer. As more and more riders arrived at the jail, the Jackson confines became so overclouded that Mr. Green and others had to be sent to a maximum security prison facility. Miller said at times so many of them were in the cell block, that they were just inches apart. "We took turns with some people standing up, while others laid down to sleep."[4][5]

The riders spent the majority of the summer in jail.[5] "there were times when you're out of your mind, you don't know if you are going to survive or not, but despite what we were going through, we still kept on doing what we were doing".[4] By than the riders had proven their point and the Supreme Court ruling begun to be enforced.[4] [5]

Freedom Rider Plaque in Birmingham

"When I look back, I am Very thankful I made that decision to walk through the door at that bus station," Says Mr. Green. [4]

Byron Valentine, 20, of Flint witnessed Miller's interview and proclaimed his speech "beautiful. The fire that I see in him, that's the fire that's inside me right now,"[4]

Since Then[edit]

[6][7] [1][8][9]

Recruitment[edit]

Miller G. Green was in El Ranchos, a place the high school kids hung out at. Sitting in the both, Miller and his friends were approached by a man in overalls, "which was very unusual. You expected to see a person like that out in the country, at a juke joint."[1] The man sat down with them and introduced himself as James Bevel.[1][10] Bevel told Miller's group about the Freedom Rides, and Miller described it as "a spirit coming over us, like the disciples of Christ, we left without telling anyone."[1] They hitchhiked back to the office. When they got there, they met Tom Gaither, who was a young field secretary and lawyer, and Reverend Bevel's wife, Diane Nash, who had just got out of jail that evening.[1][11][12] They were told what the plan was, they were initiated into the Freedom Riders.[1]

Miller G. Green upon his arrest for participating in The Freedom RIdes

They were given $50-60 to take a bus to New Orleans and told someone would meet them at the station provided they could buy tickets.[5] After everyone agreed, they were dropped off in front of the Trailway Bus Station.[5][13]


References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Etheridge., Eric (2009-02-22). "Miller Green". Breach of Peace. Retrieved 2018-03-04.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Arsenault, Raymond (2006-01-15). Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199755813. Search this book on
  3. "Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement -- Freedom Riders Roll Call". www.crmvet.org. Retrieved 2018-03-04.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 "Freedom Rider Miller Green tells his story from 1961". MLive.com. Retrieved 2018-03-04.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 "Freedom Riders - Black History - HISTORY.com". HISTORY.com. Retrieved 2018-03-04.
  6. "Operation Breadbasket (1962-1972)". kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2018-03-04.
  7. "Operation PUSH (People United to Serve Humanity) | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed". www.blackpast.org. Retrieved 2018-03-04.
  8. "Medgar Evers - Black History - HISTORY.com". HISTORY.com. Retrieved 2018-03-04.
  9. "Emmett Till". Biography. Retrieved 2018-03-04.
  10. "James Bevel". Biography. Retrieved 2018-03-04.
  11. "Tom Gaither - SNCC Digital Gateway". SNCC Digital Gateway. Retrieved 2018-03-04.
  12. "Diane Nash". Biography. Retrieved 2018-03-04.
  13. "Martin Luther King Jr. - Biography". www.nobelprize.org. Retrieved 2018-03-04.


This article "Miller G. Green" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Miller G. Green. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.