Raleigh museum hosts screening, discussion of 'Freedom Riders' film

The North Carolina Museum of History will host a showing of a new documentary about the hundreds of American who risked their lives to press home the need for racial equality in the summer of 1961.

The "Freedom Riders" were black and white people who openly defied the ban on racial mixing by riding buses and trains together in the South. More than 300 people were jailed in Mississippi before the federal government ordered an end to segregation of riders.

The documentary is part of PBS's American Experience series of films. The screening begins Tuesday at 7 p.m. and will be followed by a panel discussion on race issues.

The film will air on UNC-TV Monday, May 16, at 9 p.m.