Hi. My name is John Dolan, and I went on the Freedom Ride from Berkeley, leaving in June, 1961. These are my answers to the questions you e-mailed me over a month ago. I apologize for the delay, but I have been busy. Also, most of my answers will be succinct, and I would be glad to amplify certain points depending upon your interest.
1.Please tell us something about your background:
I am a white male, born in 1941 in San Francisco, and educated in the public schools of the state of California. My parents were not religious, but my grandparents were - Catholic on my father's side and Mormon on my mother's. My father was a fan of FDR and an avid Democrat. My mother was apolitical. There were two main influences that lead me to believe strongly in the universality of man.
First of all, the public schools of San Francisco, after WWII, felt it necessary to convince me that the US had the right to bomb Japan and Germany because we were the "good guys" and they were the "bad guys" The Germans and Japanese were wrong because they were racists and believed that certain races were superior to others. We Americans believed in the equality of all peoples, and therefore we were right. This propanganda succeeded and to this day I have a very strong belief that race is not a valid category by which humans can be differentiated.
The second influence was the Methodist Church. I did not attend church very often but in high school (Hillsdale High in San Mateo) I did socialize with the Methodist Youth Fellowship. The Methodists were very adament that Jesus loved all of us equally, and that any form of discrimination based on race was very immoral.
By the time I graduated from high school I was becoming aware that the US was still plagued by the evils of segregation, and in 1960, when I found out that Berkeley had a CORE chapter, I joined.
2. How did you become a Freedom Rider?:
As I mentioned above, I was a member of Berkeley CORE in 1961. After the first and pioneering group of Freedom Riders were arrested in Jackson, thereby preventing them from reaching New Orleans, which was their goal, national CORE put out the call of the local chapters to send people to "flood the jails", which would cost Hinds County alot of money. Ed Blankenheim came out to help us organize.
3. How did your family and friends react?:
My father disinherited me. My mother was worried about my safety. My friends in college supported me. My older friends from high school were concerned I might become a communist.
4. Tell us about your journey:
I left Berkeley with several other Freedom Riders by train to LA, where more Freedom Riders joined, and then we went by train to New Orleans. In New Orleans CORE trained us in non-violence, and then sent us in a group to Jackson by train where they were expecting us. I was in a group of about 20, equally divided between male/female, and black/white. In Jackson we quietly filed into the white only section of the depot and were arrested.
5. Were you ever frightened or did you ever regret your decision?
During the Freedom Ride itself,I was frightened once - as we were crossing Texas late at night the train slowed and came to a stop. Someone said the KKK had stopped the train and were going to kill us. Fortunately that rumor was untrue. I was not frightened for the rest of the Freedom Ride because we had international press and CORE lawyers to protect us. However, after I was let out of jail (we all spent 6 weeks in jail), I spent the rest of the summer in New Orleans with two friends I had made, Frank Nelson and George Blevins, helping CORE with their activities. Frank, George and I had become good friends because the Freedom Riders were segregated in jail by gender and race, and we were the white males in our group. During our stay in New Orleans we were arrested by the New Orleans police for "vagrancy" (we actually were having dinner with two black females, Patricia and Carlene Smith, in their home). This so offended the racist sensitivities of the cops that they arrested us, beat the crap out of us, and put us in jail. Fortunately the CORE lawyers were able to get us out. Needless to say, I was very frightened at that time. I have never regretted my decision. Everyone I have known since then has respected me for it. My father even put me back in his will. In fact, when my youngest son was in the 3rd and 4th grades, his teachers had me talk to his class on Martin Luther King's birthday about the Freedom Ride.
6. Did you encounter any vilence?:
As I said in #5, the only violence was later that summer by the New Orleans police. Frank and I spent about a week in solitary, but we were not beaten.
7. Arrest data:
We all spent 6 weeks in jail. We were trying to cost Hinds County money, but we didn't want to stay the entire 4 months. We compromised at 6 weeks, which was the longest we could stay in and still have the option to post bail to get out. The first 3 or 4 days were spent in Hinds County jail. That stay was uneventful. Then we were transferred to Mississippi State Penitentiary, the infamous Parchman Farm! Initially we were in maximum security, which meant two shared a 6x9 cell. Frank and I were cellmates, and this is how we became good friends. After a week, we had overflowed this unit, so the white males were sent to a first offenders unit, which was a large room with about 40 cots and an adjoining shower/toilet unit as well as a solitary unit. We were upset by the fact that blacks were still in maximum security, so several of us protested enough that we spent about 4-5 days in solitary. In the month I was in the first offenders unit, I was able to socialize with most of the white males. This was a very interesting experience for me, since most the of Freedom Riders were very talented and resourceful people, and we were able to entertain ourselves quite well. I have many memories about this, and I would like to discuss this face to face with others who were there with me.
8. What did you do upon release?:
As I mentioned above, Frank, George, and I spent the rest of the summer helping New Orleans CORE in their civil rights activities - mainly sitting in, handing out leaflets, and, on one occasion, I spoke at a rally in a church. This period was an incredible experience for me. I lived for over a month in a black society which was dominated by the young activists who were emerging from that generation of southern blacks. This was very rewarding as well as edifying, and it helped shape the rest of my life.
9. What experience stands out most in your mind?:
It is difficult to pick out one experience. Mostly it was the camaderie and the feeling that we were doing something constructive for America.
10. What have you done with your life since the Freedom Rides?:
A brief summary: a 30 year career in medicine, mostly in emergency medicine; two marriages and five children (two adopted, one stepson, and one natural child by each of my wives); after retiring three years ago I received a master's degree in history/humanities. I have lived my entire life in California, mostly in the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, and Davis. Now I live in a condo in Emeryville, which at the foot of the San Franciso - Oakland Bay Bridge.
11. How has this experience affected you?:
It broadened my outlook in life, giving me an intense experience of doing something constructive and having the privilege associating with many brave and creative people. Also, most importantly, it greatly strenthened my belief in the universality of man - we are all God's children and should be given equal opportunity to make of ourselves whatever we wish.
12. Any final thoughts?:
I find myself totally at odds with what passes for modern day civil rights. Modern "liberals" use blacks as a special interest group. Rather than emphasizing equal opportunity, blacks are encouraged to push for special rights due to them for whatever sins our ancestors committed. The purpose of the Freedom Ride was to break the dependency that slavery and the Jim Crow system forced on black Americans. Contemporary "civil rights" is aimed at maintaining the pernicious dependency that blacks have had on the "man". At this point in my life I just shake my head in frustration and tell the younger generation that I'm "going fishin'".
I hope this has been helpful to you. Thanks for allowing me to tell my story.
Yours truly,
John Dolan