Across That Bridge: Life Lessons and a Vision for Change

by John Lewis

We had no idea what would happen to us when we were arrested and taken to Parchman Farm. We did have a plan, however. Our strategy was that we would not post bail. We would stay incarcerated the entire forty-day term. At the same time, more Freedom Riders would attempt to ride through Mississippi. Knowing they would be arrested, our strategy was to flood the penal system until it overflowed with Americans calling for justice. Just like protestors recently swarmed the state capitol in Wisconsin, we filled the jails in the heart of Mississippi, insisting that our incarceration was wrong. In the section where I was held, it was very hard to hear and impossible to see the other inmates, but it became clear that our strategy was working. Soon, the cells all around me were full of riders, and we began to sing songs of freedom to remind us of our purpose and keep our spirits high. We sang: “Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on,” and “This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine.” We sang “Woke up this morning with my mind stayed on freedom,” and many other songs that reminded us of our faith. The songs seemed to aggravate prison officials who ultimately took away our Bibles, our toothbrushes, and even our mattresses and bedding, leaving us to sleep on steel cots, all to snuff out the joy in our hearts. Parchman was a prison meant to break the hardest men, and the prison guards were frustrated that their worst punishment could not shake our faith. We remained incarcerated ...