Freedom Rider Charles Person Encourages Gen Z, Millennial Leaders To Vote

During the NLC Convention, the Freedom Rider told young leaders to vote because the future is in their hands.

During the 2024 New Leaders Council Convention, Charles Person, the youngest member to join as an original Freedom Rider, encouraged Gen Z and millennial leaders nationwide to look toward the greater good and get out and vote.

Person, who was 18 years old when he joined the Freedom Riders, spoke before the NLC audience in Atlanta on July 25 and urged the young activists in the room to assemble and educate each other about the government. According to the Associated Press, Person believes that despite frustration and the issues at hand, the time is crucial for voters to unite, share ideas, and make use of all resources. “I believe in you because the future is in your hands,” the Morehouse College alum said.

As an original Freedom Rider, the 82-year-old has seen firsthand what the power of activists can do when they unite for change and take action. In 1961, when the first group of Freedom Riders embarked on buses through the Deep South, the activists put their lives on the line to challenge segregation laws. “The causes that we were fighting, we realized it was bigger than we,” Person said at the NLC convention and added that despite the injustices and discrimination he’s faced, he continues to vote. Some attendees were left questioning if politicians will actually deliver solutions. However, 36-year-old Ashley Nealy stated that Person is “a living reminder of what they had to overcome,” a reason she and her peers “shouldn’t take the vote for granted.”

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According to USA Today, Person is one of 13 original Freedom Riders. The math and science enthusiast has witnessed riders burn with bus doors shut, endured bloody beatings, and experienced rejection from universities because of his skin color. The activist was also jailed for several weeks following protests during the Civil Rights Movement.

“Make the country better for those yet unborn who will never know the seat you took, the ride you rode, the risk you accepted, the fare you paid, the change you made,” Person wrote in his 2021 memoir Buses Are a Comin’: Memoir of a Freedom Rider, according to Learning for Justice. “…Board your [metaphorical] bus when it stops near you … The ride you accept, no matter the risk—in fact, because of the risk—may have the force to lift and uplift millions.”

Person and Freedom Rider Joan Browning were jailed after participating in a ride and donated their archives to Emory University’s Rose Library.