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American Experience

From the film Freedom Riders: The Media, part 1

Rioters turn violent against the Freedom Riders despite the presence of the media. The resulting photographs were "about as dramatic as anything I think anyone had ever seen coming out of the Civil Rights struggle," says Ray Arsenault. "The notion that just for the attempt to sit on the front of a bus, that you could risk your life, that people could try to burn you to death was incredible."

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