Knitted Wit yarns are hand dyed in Portland, Oregon. We recommend hand washing to extend the life of your project. Always use cold water! Lay flat to dry.
- Manufacturer: Knitted Wit
- Collection: National Park
- Content: 80% Superwash Merino, 20% Nylon
- Weight: Fingering
- Needles: US 2-4
- Yards: 420
- Gauge: 24-32 sts = 4"
- Color: Freedom Riders National Monument
Where is it located?
In Anniston, Alabama, which is in East-Central Alabama, about 65 miles East of Birmingham.
Whose land does it reside upon?
The land where Alabama is located was the ancestral home of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Creek tribes.
When was it established?
January 2017
About this park:
This park was established by President Barack Obama in January 2017 to preserve and commemorate the Freedom Riders during the Civil Rights Movement.
In 1961, a small interracial band of “Freedom Riders” challenged discriminatory laws requiring separation of the races in interstate travel by boarding a bus together. They were attacked by white segregationists, who firebombed the bus. Images of the attack appeared in hundreds of newspapers, shocking the American public and spurring the Federal Government to issue regulations banning segregation in interstate travel.
Through the media, the nation and the world witnessed the violence. Images, like that of a firebombed bus burning outside Anniston, Alabama, shocked the American public and created political pressure, which forced the Federal Government to take steps to ban segregation in interstate bus travel.
Although only thirteen Freedom Riders started the journey, they inspired hundreds of others to join their cause. In the end there were over 400 Freedom Riders. They succeeded in pressing the federal government to act. On May 29, 1961, Attorney General Robert Kennedy petitioned the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to issue regulations banning segregation, and the ICC subsequently decreed that by November 1, 1961, bus carriers and terminals serving interstate travel had to be integrated.
The Freedom Rides and Freedom Riders made substantial gains in the fight for equal access to public accommodations. Federal orders to remove Jim Crow signs on interstate facilities did not change social mores or political institutions overnight, but the Freedom Riders nonetheless struck a powerful blow to racial segregation.
Why did we choose these colors?
As we researched this park, we came across this photo and really enjoyed the colors: https://www.nps.gov/media/photo/gallery-item.htm?pg=5546357&id=57FF5E6B-1DD8-B71B-0B35DBCD9A6A9C48&gid=56A7D3D8-1DD8-B71B-0BE7F84EC8ED6E66
It’s a photo of one of the Freedom Riders, Ernest "Rip" Patton, Jr. talking to a park ranger at the park.
For more information:
NPS website: https://www.nps.gov/frri/index.htm
Instagram: n/a
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FreedomRidersNPS
