September 22nd in African American History – The Interstate Commerce Commission

The Interstate Commerce Commission

September 22, 1961 The Interstate Commerce Commission issued regulations to enforce the prohibition of segregation on interstate buses and in terminal facilities.

Impelled by the protest of civil rights leaders and international outrage over the violence perpetrated on the Freedom Riders, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy petitioned the ICC to issue regulations banning Jim Crow in interstate travel and to take immediate steps to enforce those regulations. Prior to the regulations, the ICC had prohibited segregation but failed to enforce the prohibition.