She was 13 when a beaten John Lewis arrived at her Alabama family's home, seeking refuge
Brad Harper
Montgomery Advertiser
Published 5:00 a. m. ET Jul. 27, 2020
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Valda Harris Montgomery was 13 when John Lewis showed up in the wee hours of the morning at her parents' house, beaten, bloodied, exhausted and looking for refuge from a white mob. Her parents opened the door to their home.
She remembers Lewis and other Freedom Riders walking through the hallway and collapsing in the kitchen. She didn’t know why they were there or that they had been attacked when they arrived in the city while trying to integrate the interstate bus system or that a crowd had pinned them down overnight in a nearby church until federal troops arrived.
But she wasn’t surprised to see them.
“This was such a normalcy,” Montgomery said about that night in 1961. “This was our normal way of life, so it was not a surprise that people were in the house.”
More:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/07/27/john-lewis-freedom-riders-montgomery-alabama-family-hosted/5515859002/
