TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — In honor of the 1956 Tallahassee bus boycott, StarMetro bus transit is providing free rides all day Saturday.
On May 26, 1956, two Florida A&M University students, Wilhelmina Jakes and Carrie Patterson, sat in the "whites only" section on a Tallahassee city bus.
Jakes and Patterson, both black women, refused to move and were arrested. An organized bus boycott was initiated on Saturday, May 28, 1956.
The boycott of the transit system lasted several months.
"Offering free rides is a fitting tribute to honor the courageous actions of those involved in the Tallahassee bus boycott," Angela Baldwin, director of StarMetro said in a statement. "Commemorating historical moments, like this, invites each of us to reflect on the past as we work toward the future."
Most StarMetro routs run Saturday from 8 a.m. until 7:30 p.m.
