However, the earliest known reference is more specific: Inquiry of an Italian employee of the bureau elicited the information that a âgandy dancerâ is a railway worker who tamps down the earth between the ties, or otherwise âdancesâ on the track.
Eventually the federal government intervened to see that integration was enforced. By the time the Freedom Rides were over, segregation had suffered another blow. The Freedom Rides became a defining part of the civil rights movement, and the Freedom Riders became models of the heroism that transformed race relations.
Some Civil Rights advocates, including Thurgood Marshall, did not agree with the Freedom Riders direct action approach, and actually believed that the Ride would slow the civil rights process. however, ultimately they received strong support from people both inside and outside the South for their efforts.nswers. Relevance. Rating Newest Oldest. Best Answer: Freedom Riders rode in interstate buses into the segregated southern United States to test the U.S. Supreme Court decision Boynton v. Virginia, (1960). the first Freedom Ride left Washington D.C. on May 4, 1961, and was scheduled to arrive in New Orleans on May 17.