50 years ago Charles Person got on a bus with the intent to travel through the deep south from Washington DC all the way to New Orleans, testing to see if states were abiding by the Supreme Court decision that rendered segregation unconstitutional. Despite this federal ruling removing segregation in buses, bus depots, restaurants, schools, etc, southern states were not following these rulings, and instead were often fighting against them. Charles Person was the youngest member to join what became the original Freedom Ride that year, and Buses Are A Comin’ contains his recollections of what led up to his joining the movement, and how it played out for him and the other members.

This memoir is an absolutely gripping read. We learn about Charles Person’s childhood in Atlanta, how he comes of age in an era where people around him are standing up against the status quo, and how he joins the movement himself. I loved the tone of this book, Person’s voice draws you in and provides such a detailed view of not only the Freedom Ride itself but also the people he traveled with, even all these years later. I also really appreciated the parallels that he draws between then and now. In the grand scheme of things 50 years is not that long ago, and while we may seem to have come a long way since the days of visible segregation in the south, the policies and actions of the law and the general public have not really changed very much, and we should all still be jumping on buses as soon as we see them coming. We can all be as brave as Charles Person and everyone else he jumped on those buses with.

Highly recommended read, this is one that I will be reading to my kids in a couple of years. It contains a lot of important history and lessons that we all need to understand and remember and pass on.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.