In Chap­ter Five titled “The Free­dom Rides,” John Lewis reflects on his aspi­ra­tions to be a teacher and min­is­ter, express­ing his belief in the impor­tance of con­vey­ing truths to oth­ers. As he nears grad­u­a­tion from the Amer­i­can Bap­tist The­o­log­i­cal Insti­tute, Lewis yearns to stay in Nashville to fur­ther his involve­ment in the civ­il rights move­ment. Dis­heart­ened by the dimin­ish­ing appeal of preach­ing, he rec­og­nizes the need for train­ing min­is­ters who can lead African Amer­i­cans toward rec­og­niz­ing the poten­tial of their faith to com­bat racial injus­tice.

Embark­ing on an ini­tia­tive to inte­grate South­ern bus sta­tions, par­tic­u­lar­ly Birmingham—then a hub for white suprema­cist violence—Lewis presents his ideas to civ­il rights leader Fred Shut­tlesworth, who dis­cour­ages him due to the sig­nif­i­cant risks. How­ev­er, the Con­gress of Racial Equal­i­ty (CORE), found­ed on Gand­hi­an prin­ci­ples, is plan­ning a sim­i­lar cam­paign: the Free­dom Rides. This ini­tia­tive, aim­ing to test a Supreme Court rul­ing deseg­re­gat­ing bus facil­i­ties, sparks Lewis’s deter­mi­na­tion to par­tic­i­pate.

Despite con­cerns from friends about the dan­gers of the rides, Lewis pri­or­i­tizes the mis­sion over his immi­nent grad­u­a­tion, tak­ing a bus to Wash­ing­ton, D.C. There he encoun­ters diverse fel­low rid­ers, train­ing under CORE leader James Farmer, and par­tic­i­pates in non­vi­o­lent work­shops. The jour­ney begins on May 4, with the rid­ers split­ting into groups on Grey­hound and Trail­ways bus­es, only fac­ing minor hos­til­i­ty at first.

Trou­ble esca­lates on May 8 in Char­lotte when a fel­low rid­er is arrest­ed. In Rock Hill, ten­sions boil as white locals attack Lewis and oth­ers, reveal­ing the vio­lent resis­tance they would face. Even after sus­tain­ing injuries, they remain deter­mined to enact change, illus­trat­ing their resolve through non­vi­o­lent actions despite the bru­tal­i­ty. After a brief per­son­al detour to Philadel­phia to accept a fel­low­ship, Lewis returns to find the Free­dom Rid­ers fac­ing increas­ing­ly vio­lent oppo­si­tion.

Amidst the uproar in Alaba­ma, Lewis feels a com­mit­ment to con­tin­ue the rides, spurred by the con­vic­tion that their par­tic­i­pa­tion reflects the ongo­ing fight for jus­tice. They orga­nize a new group to con­tin­ue the jour­ney, aware of the risks yet deter­mined to uphold their fight against seg­re­ga­tion. The chap­ter chron­i­cles their courage and the dan­ger­ous con­di­tions they endure, pre­sent­ing a vivid por­tray­al of the civ­il rights move­men­t’s chal­lenges and the peo­ple’s unwa­ver­ing com­mit­ment to change.