JCPS students learn about Freedom Riders

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - In celebration of black history month, some JCPS students got an inside look at how civil rights activists changed America.

On Wednesday Wellington Elementary School hosted TARC’s Freedom Riders Bus.

It’s a bus that was built to resemble the same kind social reformers would have ridden on through Alabama, Missippi, and all across the south to protest segregation in the 60s.

“I want them to realize it goes beyond just the past,” said 3rd grade Wellington teacher Christy Morgan. “It’s part of how today is in America, like we need to realize the past is part of who we are today and it impacts our future. So the goal is for them to learn about the past, understand it, and be the people who want to make a difference.”

Wellington students got to learn about the Freedom Riders, the Selma to Montgomery march, and Rosa Parks’ role in the Montgomery bus boycott.