Anniston, AL – The National Park Service (NPS) has released a Master Plan and Environmental Assessment for the Bus Burning Site at the Freedom Riders National Monument in Calhoun County, Alabama. The plan, which outlines future management guidance, development concepts, and designs for the site, is open for public comment until September 24, 2025.
The Bus Burning Site marks the location where a violent mob set fire to a bus carrying Freedom Riders in 1961. The Freedom Rides were organized to challenge discriminatory state laws and customs that enforced racial segregation on buses and in bus station facilities. Along with the Greyhound Bus Station in downtown Anniston—where the Freedom Riders initially encountered the mob—the Bus Burning Site comprises the two units of the Freedom Riders National Monument.
According to NPS, the planning process is intended to provide a framework for commemorating the Freedom Rides and the individuals who participated in them. The plan builds on earlier stages of public involvement, including meetings and workshops held in March, September, and October of 2024, which allowed community members and stakeholders to share feedback on preliminary designs and concepts.
The current plan includes an assessment of environmental impacts, along with alternatives for how the Bus Burning Site may be preserved and interpreted. The NPS has emphasized that public participation remains a critical part of the process, thanking those who have already contributed input and encouraging further comments on the proposed alternatives.
Written comments may be submitted online through the National Park Service’s “Open for Comment” portal or mailed directly to the Denver Service Center, Attn: Freedom Riders NM Plan / Charles Lawson, 1 Denver Federal Center, Building 50, Denver, CO 80225.
The Freedom Riders National Monument was established to preserve and interpret the history of the Freedom Rides and their role in the civil rights movement. The Bus Burning Site and Greyhound Bus Station in Anniston stand as reminders of the violence faced by the Freedom Riders and their efforts to confront segregation in the Deep South.
