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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd_Mann
Floyd Mann (August 20, 1920 - January 12, 1996) was born in Daviston, Tallapoosa County, Alabama, and served as Director of the Alabama Department of Public Safety between 1959 and 1963. He is particularly notable for his interactions with the Freedom Riders who passed through Alabama in May 1961.
After schooling in Davidson and Alexander City, Alabama, Mann joined the United States Army Air Corps, serving as a tail gunner on a B-17, where he flew 27 combat missions including the first daylight raid on Berlin. He received numerous awards including the Distinguished Flying Cross. He married Grace Doss of Fort Worth, Texas, on November 25, 1944.
After his military service he served as a security officer at Republic Steel in Gadsden. Afterwards he served as a police officer in Alexander City, where he rose to the rank of lieutenant.[1]
From 1950 until 1958, he served as the chief of police of Opelika, where he assisted with the cleanup of gambling and corruption that had spilled over from Phenix City. During this time he developed a close relationship with John Patterson who later became attorney general and governor. From 1959 until 1963, he served as director of the Alabama Department of Public Safety, appointed by Governor John Patterson.[1]
Mann was the Director of Public Safety for the State of Alabama in 1961, when the nonviolent Freedom Riders came into the state seeking an end to segregation. The state's governor at that time, John Patterson, was resisting U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy's demands that the Freedom Riders be protected from the Ku Klux Klan and others who were attacking them at their Alabama stops. Patterson was a committed segregationist who called the Freedom Riders "fools" and "agitators" for whom he did not want to "play nursemaid".
Mann offered to protect the riders if he was given the proper resources. With the understanding that the state and city police of Alabama would offer assistance.
Kennedy sent a representative to talk to Patterson, who had his entire cabinet attend the meeting. Patterson based his repeated refusal to protect the nonviolent demonstrators from the Klan on his argument that such protection was impossible to provide, and well beyond the capabilities of local or state law enforcement.
Violence in Alabama was organized by Birmingham Police Sergeant Tom Cook (an avid Ku Klux Klan supporter) and police commissioner Bull Connor. The pair made plans to bring the Ride to an end in Alabama. When the bus arrived in Birmingham, it was attacked by a mob of Ku Klux Klan members, assisted by the police under the orders of Commissioner Bull Connor. As the riders exited the bus, they were beaten by the mob with baseball bats, iron pipes and bicycle chains. Among the Klansmen attacking the riders was FBI informant Gary Thomas Rowe. White Freedom Riders were particularly singled out for beating; James Peck required more than 50 stitches to the wounds in his head. Peck was taken to Carraway Methodist Medical Center, which refused to treat him; he was later treated at Jefferson Hillman Hospital.[2]
Connor claimed that he posted no officers at the bus depot because of the holiday; however, it was later discovered that the FBI knew of the planned attack and that the city police stayed away on purpose. Patterson offered no apologies, explaining, "When you go somewhere looking for trouble, you usually find it...You just can't guarantee the safety of a fool and that's what these folks are, just fools."[3] When asked about Connor, Mann said "He was in charge, Bull Connor was in charge of the police department in Birmingham at that point in time. He was police commissioner." "his comment was that it was just absolutely ridiculous for those people to be in Alabama doing what they were doing."[4]
Mann arrived on the loading dock a few minutes into the riot. He had been suspicious of Sullivan's assurances, but had no authority within the city limits. As a result, Mann had stationed highway patrolman a few blocks away, but amidst the chaos inside the station, he had to act on his own. A young black man, William Barbee, was knocked to the pavement, then struck repeatedly with a heavy club; the mob was shouting, ‘Kill him! Kill him!’ It might have happened but for the intervention of Floyd Mann, who drew his pistol and ordered the attackers back, threatening to shoot if they did not.[5] Firing warning shots, he came to the rescue of the Freedom Riders being beaten on the loading platform. He managed to back off some of the attackers. [6] Mann also saved the life of Jim Zwerg. Zwerg had been beaten badly by the rioters. Two Freedom Riders and a reporter carried Zwerg, who appeared to be dying, to a taxicab. The white driver refused to drive Zwerg to the hospital. A deputy sheriff arrived - to read the injunction to Zwerg and the two other Freedom Riders. An African-American taxi driver agreed to take them to a doctor, but the police would not allow Zwerg to go. He would have to wait until a white ambulance arrived. Since Sullivan, as he later explained, had arranged for all the white ambulances to be in the repair shop on this date, the ambulance would never arrive. Mann had to intervene, directing one of his patrolmen to drive Zwerg to a hospital. Zwerg would be hospitalized, but survived his injuries.[6]
Sullivan's police arrived 10 minutes into the riot, but initially took no action to halt the beatings. Hearing that Mann was on the loading platform, Sullivan rushed to the scene. As Sullivan tried to assert his authority over Mann, Judge Walter B. Jones and State Attorney General MacDonald Gallion arrived to take charge. Their primary concern was not to stop the riot or arrest Klansmen, but to read Judge Jones' injunction[7] to the nearly unconscious Freedom Riders. At that point, Mann called for his state troopers whom he had stationed several blocks away. Their arrival restored order to the terminal.'"[6]
Floyd Mann (August 20, 1920 - January 12, 1996) was born in Daviston, Tallapoosa County, Alabama, and served as Director of the Alabama Department of Public Safety between 1959 and 1963. He is particularly notable for his interactions with the Freedom Riders who passed through Alabama in May 1961.
After schooling in Davidson and Alexander City, Alabama, Mann joined the United States Army Air Corps, serving as a tail gunner on a B-17, where he flew 27 combat missions including the first daylight raid on Berlin. He received numerous awards including the Distinguished Flying Cross. He married Grace Doss of Fort Worth, Texas, on November 25, 1944.
After his military service he served as a security officer at Republic Steel in Gadsden. Afterwards he served as a police officer in Alexander City, where he rose to the rank of lieutenant.[1]
From 1950 until 1958, he served as the chief of police of Opelika, where he assisted with the cleanup of gambling and corruption that had spilled over from Phenix City. During this time he developed a close relationship with John Patterson who later became attorney general and governor. From 1959 until 1963, he served as director of the Alabama Department of Public Safety, appointed by Governor John Patterson.[1]
Mann was the Director of Public Safety for the State of Alabama in 1961, when the nonviolent Freedom Riders came into the state seeking an end to segregation. The state's governor at that time, John Patterson, was resisting U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy's demands that the Freedom Riders be protected from the Ku Klux Klan and others who were attacking them at their Alabama stops. Patterson was a committed segregationist who called the Freedom Riders "fools" and "agitators" for whom he did not want to "play nursemaid".
Mann offered to protect the riders if he was given the proper resources. With the understanding that the state and city police of Alabama would offer assistance.
Kennedy sent a representative to talk to Patterson, who had his entire cabinet attend the meeting. Patterson based his repeated refusal to protect the nonviolent demonstrators from the Klan on his argument that such protection was impossible to provide, and well beyond the capabilities of local or state law enforcement.
Violence in Alabama was organized by Birmingham Police Sergeant Tom Cook (an avid Ku Klux Klan supporter) and police commissioner Bull Connor. The pair made plans to bring the Ride to an end in Alabama. When the bus arrived in Birmingham, it was attacked by a mob of Ku Klux Klan members, assisted by the police under the orders of Commissioner Bull Connor. As the riders exited the bus, they were beaten by the mob with baseball bats, iron pipes and bicycle chains. Among the Klansmen attacking the riders was FBI informant Gary Thomas Rowe. White Freedom Riders were particularly singled out for beating; James Peck required more than 50 stitches to the wounds in his head. Peck was taken to Carraway Methodist Medical Center, which refused to treat him; he was later treated at Jefferson Hillman Hospital.[2]
Connor claimed that he posted no officers at the bus depot because of the holiday; however, it was later discovered that the FBI knew of the planned attack and that the city police stayed away on purpose. Patterson offered no apologies, explaining, "When you go somewhere looking for trouble, you usually find it...You just can't guarantee the safety of a fool and that's what these folks are, just fools."[3] When asked about Connor, Mann said "He was in charge, Bull Connor was in charge of the police department in Birmingham at that point in time. He was police commissioner." "his comment was that it was just absolutely ridiculous for those people to be in Alabama doing what they were doing."[4]
Mann arrived on the loading dock a few minutes into the riot. He had been suspicious of Sullivan's assurances, but had no authority within the city limits. As a result, Mann had stationed highway patrolman a few blocks away, but amidst the chaos inside the station, he had to act on his own. A young black man, William Barbee, was knocked to the pavement, then struck repeatedly with a heavy club; the mob was shouting, ‘Kill him! Kill him!’ It might have happened but for the intervention of Floyd Mann, who drew his pistol and ordered the attackers back, threatening to shoot if they did not.[5] Firing warning shots, he came to the rescue of the Freedom Riders being beaten on the loading platform. He managed to back off some of the attackers. [6] Mann also saved the life of Jim Zwerg. Zwerg had been beaten badly by the rioters. Two Freedom Riders and a reporter carried Zwerg, who appeared to be dying, to a taxicab. The white driver refused to drive Zwerg to the hospital. A deputy sheriff arrived - to read the injunction to Zwerg and the two other Freedom Riders. An African-American taxi driver agreed to take them to a doctor, but the police would not allow Zwerg to go. He would have to wait until a white ambulance arrived. Since Sullivan, as he later explained, had arranged for all the white ambulances to be in the repair shop on this date, the ambulance would never arrive. Mann had to intervene, directing one of his patrolmen to drive Zwerg to a hospital. Zwerg would be hospitalized, but survived his injuries.[6]
Sullivan's police arrived 10 minutes into the riot, but initially took no action to halt the beatings. Hearing that Mann was on the loading platform, Sullivan rushed to the scene. As Sullivan tried to assert his authority over Mann, Judge Walter B. Jones and State Attorney General MacDonald Gallion arrived to take charge. Their primary concern was not to stop the riot or arrest Klansmen, but to read Judge Jones' injunction[7] to the nearly unconscious Freedom Riders. At that point, Mann called for his state troopers whom he had stationed several blocks away. Their arrival restored order to the terminal.'"[6]
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Thank you, my friend Maj Marty Hogan for making us aware that August 20 is the anniversary of the birth of United States Army Air Corps tail gunner on a B-17, Director of the Alabama Department of Public Safety between 1959 and 1963 Floyd Mann who "is particularly notable for his interactions with the Freedom Riders who passed through Alabama in May 1961."
Rest in peace Floyd Mann.
1. Background gregsegroves.blogspot.com/2014/07/floyd-mann-and-freedom-rides.html
The South has a sad and terrible history in the area of race relations but history teaches us that it has been Southerners who have done more to right America's wrongs than anyone else. Lincoln was born in Kentucky and was raised in a family heaped in Southern culture. Harry Truman was from Missouri and Lyndon Johnson was from Texas. Both regularly used racial slurs and the N word. Truman nearly joined the Klan at one point and Johnson was considered a segregationist but these three presidents did more to free black people than any other presidents in American history. Martin Luther King was from Georgia and Frederick Douglas was from Maryland. Southerners have been very much part of the problem but they understand the problem of race better than anyone. Martin Luther King once said that when he visited John Kennedy in the White House Kennedy asked questions for the whole hour they were together. When he visited Lyndon Johnson, LBJ talked the whole hour. Like many Southerners of the 1960's Floyd Mann was a segregationist and a racist. He was a decent man ,however; and had a innate sense of justice. At the time of the Freedom rides in 1961 he was the head of the Alabama Department of Public Safety, which meant he was in charge of the Alabama Highway Patrol. From 1950 to 1958 he was Chief of Police in Opelika Alabama and helped to clean up corruption that spilled over from Phoenix City Alabama which was then one of the most corrupt cities in the United States.
Floyd was born on August 20, 1920, the same year as my father, and he was not only a good and decent man he was a brave one. He was a tail gunner on a B-17 in the air war over Europe, and was involved in the first daylight raid over Berlin. Most American Airmen were only required to fly 25 missions because these missions were so dangerous. Floyd on the other hand flew 27 missions.. He worked his way to the top of the Department of Safety through his friendship with Governor John Patterson of Alabama who was also a committed segregationist. Patterson called the Freedom Riders "fools" and "agitators" for whom he did not want to "play nursemaid". Mann approached his job in a professional manner, however; and offered to protect them if he was given the proper resources and the understanding that the state and city police would offer assistance. What was actually happening was that local police departments had agreed to stand down long enough for the Klan to meet these riders at the bus stations in places like Birmingham, Anniston, and Montgomery Alabama so they could have their way with them. The first busloads of the Freedom riders were manned by C.O.R.E. or Congress of Racial Equality. Seven blacks and six whites were passengers on two busses. A Continental Trailways bus and a Greyhound bus that set out on May 4, 1961. Their intention was to test a Supreme Court decision which had declared segregation on interstate transportation to be unconstitutional. When the Trailways bus arrived at the Birmingham station the Klan attacked the Freedom Riders. The white riders were singled out for the most savage treatment. The Greyhound bus was attacked in Anniston but the driver managed to pull out of the station and drive out on to the open road. The mob followed in cars and pick-up trucks blowing out the tires of the bus. Someone threw a fire bomb through the window and others held the doors closed so the passengers couldn't escape the flames. Unknown to the passengers Floyd Mann had placed a plain clothes officer on the bus. The officer drew his weapon and threatened to shoot the men that were blocking the doors. This action saved the lives of the passengers. James Farmer, the leader of C.O.R.E. was so shaken by the violence that he decided to end C.O.R.E.'s involvement in the Freedom Rides.
There were a large group of Nashville students that had been preparing for such a moment as this. They had trained under the tutelage of a black Vanderbilt Divinity student named James Lawson who conducted non-violent workshops that taught non-violence as a strategy for defeating segregation. It was based on the philosophies of Jesus, Ghandi, and Thoreau. They were black and white students like Diane Nash, James Bevel, John Lewis, Marion Barry, Jim Zwerg and Bernard Lafayette just to name a few. They attended local black colleges like Tennessee State University, Fisk University, and the American Bible College. John Lewis was a part of the original C.O.R.E. group that had endured the beatings in Birmingham and waited there as Diane Nash organized the Nashville students to resume the Freedom rides in Birmingham. They boarded a Greyhound bus for Montgomery that was escorted by police. The police escort abandoned them just before arriving in Montgomery. The local Montgomery authorities planned to give the Ku Klux Klan fifteen minutes to do their dirty work there in the bus station.. Mann was ready for just such of a possibility so he posted 100 highway patrolman nearby in the event of trouble. When the bus arrived a mob of Klansmen began beating the riders mercilessly . John Sieganthaler, who recently died at the age of 86 here in Nashville, was working for Robert Kennedy and was the Justice Department representative in Montgomery. He was nearly killed trying to protect two white girls when he was hit in the head with a lead pipe fracturing his skull. One rider was paralyzed and would die a few years later from the beating. John Lewis and Jim Zwerg, a white rider, were beaten to a pulp and nearly killed. As a Klansman was about to hit John Lewis with a baseball bat a white man stuck a gun to his head and threatened to blow his brains out if he swung the bat. It was Floyd Mann. He ordered the attackers to disperse and called in his troopers to assist, although some of them were insubordinate.
All white ambulances were placed in the shop for maintenance that day.This was so they could not respond to the Montgomery bus station. Jim Zwerg was beaten so badly that many thought he was dying. People attempted to send him to the hospital in a taxi but both white and black driver's refused to take him. Mann placed him in a patrol car and sent Zwerg to the white hospital but they refused to take him. He was accepted at the black hospital where he made a full recovery. Although I don't agree with John Lewis's political views, he is a Democratic Congressman today, Lewis is one of the bravest men alive. He was beaten to within an inch of his life on several occasions and was always at the forefront of the civil rights struggle. These brave students continued the Freedom Rides throughout 1961 until the Commerce Department, under the urging of the Kennedy administration, ordered all segregation ended in interstate travel terminals. Floyd Mann went on to finish a distinguished career in both the public and private sector. He died in 1996. John Lewis attended the dedication of the Montgomery Civil Rights memorial in 1989, after he was elected to Congress from Georgia. An elderly white man walked up to him and said ''I remember you from the freedom rides.'' Lewis took a moment to recall the face. Then he whispered to Floyd Mann, ''You saved my life.'' The two men hugged, and Lewis began to cry. As they parted, Mann said, simply, ''I'm right proud of your career.''
Images:
1. Floyd Mann Alabama state public safety officer head image.jpg
2. Floyd Mann Alabama state public safety officer.j
3. Floyd Mann.
Transcript of video interview from http://repository.wustl.edu/concern/videos/r494vn118
(Video)
Media player
[slate][CAMERA CREW MEMBER:] MARKER.[INTERVIEWER:] OK.[Col. Floyd Mann:] [coughs] We knew that it would be very important for the state police to know what route these people were going to take when they arrived in Alabama. So we thought it would be a good idea to send a state investigator to Atlanta to board this bus. [coughs] And Mother’s Day 1961 was when they arrived in Alabama; Anniston, Alabama. While this bus was in Anniston the Ku Klux Klan [sic] and other members surrounded that bus and would not let the people off the bus. While it was in the bus station they also cut the tires on the bus. They knew that those tires would go down. So when the bus left Anniston toward Birmingham, the Klan followed the bus out on the highway. Excuse me a minute. I need a little drink of water.[INTERVIEWER:] SURE LET’S CUT.[CAMERA CREW MEMBER:] SURE.[cut]
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[slate]
[INTERVIEWER:] I’M JUST GOING TO ASK YOU A VERY SHORT QUESTION.
[Col. Floyd Mann:] OK.
[INTERVIEWER:] IF IT RUNS TOO LONG WE’LL ASK YOU TO GIVE IT AWAY AND START OVER.
[Col. Floyd Mann:] OK.
[INTERVIEWER:] OK.
[Col. Floyd Mann:]
[coughs]
[INTERVIEWER:] FIRST QUESTION. FIRST OF ALL, WHAT, WHAT WAS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY IN ‘60, ‘61, YOUR JURISDICTION? WHAT WERE YOU, WHAT WERE YOU DOING IN THE ALABAMA STATE GOVERNMENT?
[Col. Floyd Mann:] In 1961, I was the director of the Alabama State Police which includes Alabama State Troopers, state investigators, two, three other divisions.
[INTERVIEWER:] WHEN DID YOU FIRST HEAR ABOUT THE FREEDOM RIDERS COMING INTO ALABAMA AND WHAT WAS YOUR—WHAT WAS THE FEELING IN THE STATE? NOT AMONG OFFICIALS, BUT LOCAL PEOPLE?
[Col. Floyd Mann:] Well, of course it was something new. We picked up rumors several weeks prior to them arriving in Alabama. Also it was a certain something that the state police had not been confronted with in the past. We'd had local demonstrations by local people and—but this was the first time we'd had an interstate movement on the part of people. It was testing such things as lunch counters, water fountains, restrooms, so we knew that it would be a in all probability a, a police problem.
[INTERVIEWER:] TELL ME A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT HOW PEOPLE IN ALABAMA FELT ABOUT THE FREEDOM RIDERS. GIVE ME AN IDEA OF WHAT THE, THE LOCAL FEELING WAS.
[Col. Floyd Mann:] Well, at that point in time, what you could hear more than anything else was that this was outsiders coming into the state.
[INTERVIEWER:] I’M SORRY, COULD YOU MENTION THE WORD FREEDOM RIDERS SOMEWHERE IN THERE, JUST SO I GET THAT—WE KNOW WHO YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT.
[Col. Floyd Mann:] All right.
[coughs] At this point in time, the most people in Alabama that you’d hear speaking about this, thought the Freedom Riders were a, were a group of people that—outsiders that were coming into the state that was coming to the state for—to cause problems. That's what the average person was saying around in Alabama at that time.
[INTERVIEWER:] WHAT ABOUT THE, THE CLIMATE COMING OUT OF THE GOVERNOR’S CAMPAIGN IN 1958?
[Col. Floyd Mann:]
[coughs] Well, I'm sure that this also, this also had a bearing because we had had an election in 1958 whereby both Governor Wallace and John Patterson was running against each other for governor and, of course, the segregation is—issue at that time was a strong issue in the race, very strong issue, and different groups of people were supporting different candidates because of those issues.
[INTERVIEWER:] CAN YOU GET MORE SPECIFIC ON THAT. LIKE WHAT, WHAT SORT OF ATTITUDES WERE TAKEN BY BOTH PATTERSON AND WALLACE.
[Col. Floyd Mann:] Well,
[coughs] let me say this. I think both Patterson and Wallace would have both enjoyed having the support of the Ku Klux Klan
[sic] if that answers your question.
[INTERVIEWER:] OK, LET’S CUT RIGHT THERE.
[cut]
[slate]
[CAMERA CREW MEMBER 1:] AND MARK.
[CAMERA CREW MEMBER 2:] MARKER.
[INTERVIEWER:] OK, SO I’M GONNA BACKTRACK A LITTLE BIT. JUST GIVE ME AN IDEA OF WHAT THE CHOICE WAS FOR THE PEOPLE OF ALABAMA IN THAT ELECTION, ‘58, ‘59.
[Col. Floyd Mann:] Well, in the 1958 election in the Governor's race you had a—the race was being run by Governor George Wallace and John Patterson. Governor John Patterson's father had been assassinated in Phenix City, Alabama. As a result of having been elected Attorney General and he was elected on a campaign to clean up vice and corruption in Phenix City which had been in—involved with crime for many years. Before he was able to take office he was assassinated. The Democratic Party then named his son—
[INTERVIEWER:] LET, LET ME STOP YOU RIGHT THERE. LET’S, LET’S CUT FOR A SECOND.
[CAMERA CREW MEMBER:] OK.
[cut]
[wild audio]
[INTERVIEWER:] —ABOUT PHENIX CITY—
[Col. Floyd Mann:] OK.
[INTERVIEWER:] —WILL NEVER MAKE IT IN THE FILM.
[cut]
[slate]
[Col. Floyd Mann:] Well, ask me the question again.
[INTERVIEWER:] OK.
[laughs]
[Col. Floyd Mann:] OK. So you don’t want Phenix City in the film.
[INTERVIEWER:] I DON’T THINK—
[Col. Floyd Mann:] OK. OK. OK.
[INTERVIEWER:] I DON’T THINK IT WILL MAKE IT. SO, JUST GIVE ME AN IDEA OF WHAT THE CHOICES WERE FOR THE VOTER IN ‘58 ELECTION IN ALABAMA.
[Col. Floyd Mann:] Well, in the 1958 governor's election, the choices was Governor John Patterson or Governor George Wallace. Both, at that time, segregation in Alabama was a political issue. And, I believe, at that point in time in Alabama, to those candidates it was very important that they receive support from people who felt very strongly on this is—issue. And so you will know more of what I mean, I'm talking about groups like the Ku Klux Klan
[sic], that type of people, because you have to remember, at that point in time in Alabama politics, that was before the voting act, so how other people felt at that time was not of a great concern of people running for Governor.
[INTERVIEWER:] OK, LET’S CUT THERE.
[cut]
[slate]
[CAMERA CREW MEMBER:] MARKER.
[INTERVIEWER:] SO LET’S—JUST RIGHT WHERE YOU STARTED BEFORE IN ‘58 ELECTION.
[Col. Floyd Mann:] Start again?
[INTERVIEWER:] YEAH, GO AHEAD.
[Col. Floyd Mann:] Over, totally?
[INTERVIEWER:] YEAH.
[laughs]
[Col. Floyd Mann:] Well, in the governor’s election in 1958, two candidates, Governor John Patterson and Governor George Wallace were the candidates. At that time in Alabama, segregation was an issue, a very burning issue apparently, and it became very competitive on the part of both Patterson and Wallace to try to get the support of people who felt very strongly about these issues because, as you are aware, black people—not many black people could vote in Alabama at that point in time. So, it’s very evident to me that who won the governor's race, at that point in time, would be the people who could muster the most white support.
[INTERVIEWER:] OK, THAT’S GOOD. AND SO, I’M SORRY LET’S CUT. LET ME JUST TAKE A BREAK HERE.
[cut]
[wild audio]
[INTERVIEWER:] WHAT THE CLIMATE WAS THEN.
[cut]
[slate]
[CAMERA CREW MEMBER:] OK. MARKER.
[INTERVIEWER:] OK, SO WHEN THE FREEDOM RIDERS CAME INTO THE STATE, THEY LEFT ATLANTA IN—ON MAY 14. THERE WAS AN OFFICIAL ON THE BUS. JUST EXPLAIN WHO THAT PERSON WAS AND WHY HE WAS ON THE BUS?
[Col. Floyd Mann:]
[coughs] Well, we knew that the bus was going to be coming into Alabama from Atlanta. We did not have any communications or any information from those people about what route they'd be taking in Alabama, so we decided that for the benefit of the state police and also try to protect this bus and the people on the bus, it would be important for us to have some type of information. So we sent one of the state investigators, a Mr. L. Cowden to Atlanta to board that bus. This, this was on Sunday, I remember, New Year’s Day of 1961.
[INTERVIEWER:] LET’S, LET’S STOP. LISTEN, I THINK—LET’S CUT FOR A SECOND. NEW YEAR’S—
[cut]
[slate]
[CAMERA CREW MEMBER:] MARKER.
[INTERVIEWER:] OK.
[Col. Floyd Mann:]
[coughs] We knew that it would be very important for the state police to know what route these people were going to take when they arrived in Alabama. So we thought it would be a good idea to send a state investigator to Atlanta to board this bus.
[coughs] And Mother’s Day 1961 was when they arrived in Alabama; Anniston, Alabama. While this bus was in Anniston the Ku Klux Klan
[sic] and other members surrounded that bus and would not let the people off the bus. While it was in the bus station they also cut the tires on the bus. They knew that those tires would go down. So when the bus left Anniston toward Birmingham, the Klan followed the bus out on the highway. Excuse me a minute. I need a little drink of water.
[INTERVIEWER:] SURE LET’S CUT.
[CAMERA CREW MEMBER:] SURE.
[cut]
[slate]
[CAMERA CREW MEMBER:] MARKER. OK, WE’RE SET.
[INTERVIEWER:] OK. LET’S SEE, WHY DON’T YOU JUST KEEP GOING RIGHT WHERE YOU LEFT OFF.
[Col. Floyd Mann:] OK. Several miles out of Anniston, the tire went down on the bus. The bus stopped. The Klan had followed the bus to this point. At that point they set the bus on fire, the Klansmen did.
[coughs] Those people on the bus could not get off the bus and if we had not had the state investigator on the bus, I think, everyone on the bus would have burned to death. But the investigator unlocked the door and pulled his gun and showed his badge and made the people back up and got the people off the bus. From that point they scattered around where the bus was burning and the more troopers arrived and then another bus arrived and they took that group on into Birmingham, where another outbreak occurred.
[INTERVIEWER:] WON’T YOU DESCRIBE THAT OUTBREAK?
[Col. Floyd Mann:]
[coughs] Well, I was not there, I just had reports of what had happened. Several people were beaten and some knocked unconscious.
[INTERVIEWER:] LET ME STOP YOU RIGHT THERE. WHY DON’T YOU BEGIN IN, IN BY SAYING—"
1. Background from thirdside.williamury.com/halting-a-murder/
THE PEACEKEEPER: HALTING A MURDER
"May 20, 1961. A group of African-American civil rights protesters led by John Lewis had just arrived at the bus station in Montgomery, Alabama, where a hate-filled white mob awaited them. As the mob closed in to attack with heavy clubs, Lewis urged his people: “Stand together. Don’t run. Just stand together!”
The mob yelled, “Kill him. Kill him.”
Murder might have ensued had not Floyd Mann charged into the bus station. Mann, Alabama’s public safety commissioner, was a committed segregationist but tough on law and order.
He fired his gun into the air and shouted, “There’ll be no killing here today.” A white attacker raised his bat for what would have been a final and probably fatal blow against young William Barbee.
Mann put his gun to the assailant’s head. “One more swing,” he said, “and you’re dead.” The violence promptly ceased."
2. Floyd Mann was the head of Alabama’s Department of Public Safety during the Freedom Rides and was instrumental in saving riders from vicious attacks.
Synopsis
Born on August 20, 1920, in Daviston, Alabama, Floyd Mann worked in law enforcement and became his home state's public safety director, appointed by John Patterson. The Freedom Rides' efforts to desegregate interstate travel was met with brutal violence, and Mann jumped into the fray to protect riders during the 1960 attack in Montgomery. Doing later university work, he died on January 12, 1996.
Background from
Floyd H. Mann was born on August 20, 1920, in Daviston, Alabama. He eventually joined the military and served in World War II as part of the Army Air Corps, receiving commendations and becoming a colonel.
Mann wed Grace Doss of Texas in the autumn of 1944.
Public Safety Director
Upon his return to the states, Floyd Mann attended the National Academy of the FBI and took to law enforcement, working as police chief in the city of Opelika for most of the 1950s. Towards the end of the decade he was appointed to run his home state's Department of Public Safety by newly elected governor John Patterson, who had strong segregationist ties.
Freedom Rides
The year 1961 marked the start of the Freedom Rides, a movement headed by the Congress for Racial Equality, or CORE, to formerly challenge segregation on Southern intestate bus travel, already technically illegal. Upon their travels to Birmingham and Alabama, the riders had faced horrifying violence, with some of the activists badly hurt.
Halts Vicious Attack
Mann had opposed the idea of police forces aiding racist zeal instead of following the duties of law enforcement. He had also been privy to much of the regional political machinations around the rides. Mann worked with others to place an investigator on one of the rides to Aniston who ultimately helped save citizens from being consumed by fire in a Ku Klux Klan attack.
After getting later information that Montgomery's own police officers were going to take the day off with the arrival of a Freedom Ride bus from Birmingham, thus abandoning their duty and offering the Riders no protection, Mann had 100 state troopers placed on standby at the police academy.
Upon the bus reaching Montgomery on May 20, 1961, a huge swarm of attackers besieged the riders, with federal operative John Seigenthaler knocked unconscious and others beaten bloody and running for their lives. Mann ran into the crowd by himself with his weapon and demanded a stop to the attack, immediately saving the badly battered Jim Zwerg and future Congressman John Lewis from continued assault. Mann had called for backup from his sequestered force, though some of his own officers were insubordinate.
Reflection and Later Years
The Montgomery attacks and resulting injuries gained international notoriety and further framed the harsh injustices faced by civil rights workers, with President John F. Kennedy sending over federal marshals. In a later interview with The Tuscaloosa News, Mann stated he was afraid yet his actions were "just a matter of doing what had to be done." The Freedom Rides ultimately helped to change the parameters of interstate travel. In an Eyes on the Prize interview, Mann also cited the legal-protection work of Judge Frank M. Johnson.
Mann eventually took on a post at the University of Alabama with its president David Matthews, and later served as his assistant in Washington, D.C., under the administration of President Gerald Ford. Mann subsequently helmed Alabama's Alcoholic Beverage Control Board in the early 1980s.
Floyd Mann died on January 12, 1996. He was survived by his wife, Grace, along with their children and grandchildren."
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Rest in peace Floyd Mann.
1. Background gregsegroves.blogspot.com/2014/07/floyd-mann-and-freedom-rides.html
The South has a sad and terrible history in the area of race relations but history teaches us that it has been Southerners who have done more to right America's wrongs than anyone else. Lincoln was born in Kentucky and was raised in a family heaped in Southern culture. Harry Truman was from Missouri and Lyndon Johnson was from Texas. Both regularly used racial slurs and the N word. Truman nearly joined the Klan at one point and Johnson was considered a segregationist but these three presidents did more to free black people than any other presidents in American history. Martin Luther King was from Georgia and Frederick Douglas was from Maryland. Southerners have been very much part of the problem but they understand the problem of race better than anyone. Martin Luther King once said that when he visited John Kennedy in the White House Kennedy asked questions for the whole hour they were together. When he visited Lyndon Johnson, LBJ talked the whole hour. Like many Southerners of the 1960's Floyd Mann was a segregationist and a racist. He was a decent man ,however; and had a innate sense of justice. At the time of the Freedom rides in 1961 he was the head of the Alabama Department of Public Safety, which meant he was in charge of the Alabama Highway Patrol. From 1950 to 1958 he was Chief of Police in Opelika Alabama and helped to clean up corruption that spilled over from Phoenix City Alabama which was then one of the most corrupt cities in the United States.
Floyd was born on August 20, 1920, the same year as my father, and he was not only a good and decent man he was a brave one. He was a tail gunner on a B-17 in the air war over Europe, and was involved in the first daylight raid over Berlin. Most American Airmen were only required to fly 25 missions because these missions were so dangerous. Floyd on the other hand flew 27 missions.. He worked his way to the top of the Department of Safety through his friendship with Governor John Patterson of Alabama who was also a committed segregationist. Patterson called the Freedom Riders "fools" and "agitators" for whom he did not want to "play nursemaid". Mann approached his job in a professional manner, however; and offered to protect them if he was given the proper resources and the understanding that the state and city police would offer assistance. What was actually happening was that local police departments had agreed to stand down long enough for the Klan to meet these riders at the bus stations in places like Birmingham, Anniston, and Montgomery Alabama so they could have their way with them. The first busloads of the Freedom riders were manned by C.O.R.E. or Congress of Racial Equality. Seven blacks and six whites were passengers on two busses. A Continental Trailways bus and a Greyhound bus that set out on May 4, 1961. Their intention was to test a Supreme Court decision which had declared segregation on interstate transportation to be unconstitutional. When the Trailways bus arrived at the Birmingham station the Klan attacked the Freedom Riders. The white riders were singled out for the most savage treatment. The Greyhound bus was attacked in Anniston but the driver managed to pull out of the station and drive out on to the open road. The mob followed in cars and pick-up trucks blowing out the tires of the bus. Someone threw a fire bomb through the window and others held the doors closed so the passengers couldn't escape the flames. Unknown to the passengers Floyd Mann had placed a plain clothes officer on the bus. The officer drew his weapon and threatened to shoot the men that were blocking the doors. This action saved the lives of the passengers. James Farmer, the leader of C.O.R.E. was so shaken by the violence that he decided to end C.O.R.E.'s involvement in the Freedom Rides.
There were a large group of Nashville students that had been preparing for such a moment as this. They had trained under the tutelage of a black Vanderbilt Divinity student named James Lawson who conducted non-violent workshops that taught non-violence as a strategy for defeating segregation. It was based on the philosophies of Jesus, Ghandi, and Thoreau. They were black and white students like Diane Nash, James Bevel, John Lewis, Marion Barry, Jim Zwerg and Bernard Lafayette just to name a few. They attended local black colleges like Tennessee State University, Fisk University, and the American Bible College. John Lewis was a part of the original C.O.R.E. group that had endured the beatings in Birmingham and waited there as Diane Nash organized the Nashville students to resume the Freedom rides in Birmingham. They boarded a Greyhound bus for Montgomery that was escorted by police. The police escort abandoned them just before arriving in Montgomery. The local Montgomery authorities planned to give the Ku Klux Klan fifteen minutes to do their dirty work there in the bus station.. Mann was ready for just such of a possibility so he posted 100 highway patrolman nearby in the event of trouble. When the bus arrived a mob of Klansmen began beating the riders mercilessly . John Sieganthaler, who recently died at the age of 86 here in Nashville, was working for Robert Kennedy and was the Justice Department representative in Montgomery. He was nearly killed trying to protect two white girls when he was hit in the head with a lead pipe fracturing his skull. One rider was paralyzed and would die a few years later from the beating. John Lewis and Jim Zwerg, a white rider, were beaten to a pulp and nearly killed. As a Klansman was about to hit John Lewis with a baseball bat a white man stuck a gun to his head and threatened to blow his brains out if he swung the bat. It was Floyd Mann. He ordered the attackers to disperse and called in his troopers to assist, although some of them were insubordinate.
All white ambulances were placed in the shop for maintenance that day.This was so they could not respond to the Montgomery bus station. Jim Zwerg was beaten so badly that many thought he was dying. People attempted to send him to the hospital in a taxi but both white and black driver's refused to take him. Mann placed him in a patrol car and sent Zwerg to the white hospital but they refused to take him. He was accepted at the black hospital where he made a full recovery. Although I don't agree with John Lewis's political views, he is a Democratic Congressman today, Lewis is one of the bravest men alive. He was beaten to within an inch of his life on several occasions and was always at the forefront of the civil rights struggle. These brave students continued the Freedom Rides throughout 1961 until the Commerce Department, under the urging of the Kennedy administration, ordered all segregation ended in interstate travel terminals. Floyd Mann went on to finish a distinguished career in both the public and private sector. He died in 1996. John Lewis attended the dedication of the Montgomery Civil Rights memorial in 1989, after he was elected to Congress from Georgia. An elderly white man walked up to him and said ''I remember you from the freedom rides.'' Lewis took a moment to recall the face. Then he whispered to Floyd Mann, ''You saved my life.'' The two men hugged, and Lewis began to cry. As they parted, Mann said, simply, ''I'm right proud of your career.''
Images:
1. Floyd Mann Alabama state public safety officer head image.jpg
2. Floyd Mann Alabama state public safety officer.j
3. Floyd Mann.
Transcript of video interview from http://repository.wustl.edu/concern/videos/r494vn118
(Video)
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[slate][CAMERA CREW MEMBER:] MARKER.[INTERVIEWER:] OK.[Col. Floyd Mann:] [coughs] We knew that it would be very important for the state police to know what route these people were going to take when they arrived in Alabama. So we thought it would be a good idea to send a state investigator to Atlanta to board this bus. [coughs] And Mother’s Day 1961 was when they arrived in Alabama; Anniston, Alabama. While this bus was in Anniston the Ku Klux Klan [sic] and other members surrounded that bus and would not let the people off the bus. While it was in the bus station they also cut the tires on the bus. They knew that those tires would go down. So when the bus left Anniston toward Birmingham, the Klan followed the bus out on the highway. Excuse me a minute. I need a little drink of water.[INTERVIEWER:] SURE LET’S CUT.[CAMERA CREW MEMBER:] SURE.[cut]
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[slate]
[INTERVIEWER:] I’M JUST GOING TO ASK YOU A VERY SHORT QUESTION.
[Col. Floyd Mann:] OK.
[INTERVIEWER:] IF IT RUNS TOO LONG WE’LL ASK YOU TO GIVE IT AWAY AND START OVER.
[Col. Floyd Mann:] OK.
[INTERVIEWER:] OK.
[Col. Floyd Mann:]
[coughs]
[INTERVIEWER:] FIRST QUESTION. FIRST OF ALL, WHAT, WHAT WAS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY IN ‘60, ‘61, YOUR JURISDICTION? WHAT WERE YOU, WHAT WERE YOU DOING IN THE ALABAMA STATE GOVERNMENT?
[Col. Floyd Mann:] In 1961, I was the director of the Alabama State Police which includes Alabama State Troopers, state investigators, two, three other divisions.
[INTERVIEWER:] WHEN DID YOU FIRST HEAR ABOUT THE FREEDOM RIDERS COMING INTO ALABAMA AND WHAT WAS YOUR—WHAT WAS THE FEELING IN THE STATE? NOT AMONG OFFICIALS, BUT LOCAL PEOPLE?
[Col. Floyd Mann:] Well, of course it was something new. We picked up rumors several weeks prior to them arriving in Alabama. Also it was a certain something that the state police had not been confronted with in the past. We'd had local demonstrations by local people and—but this was the first time we'd had an interstate movement on the part of people. It was testing such things as lunch counters, water fountains, restrooms, so we knew that it would be a in all probability a, a police problem.
[INTERVIEWER:] TELL ME A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT HOW PEOPLE IN ALABAMA FELT ABOUT THE FREEDOM RIDERS. GIVE ME AN IDEA OF WHAT THE, THE LOCAL FEELING WAS.
[Col. Floyd Mann:] Well, at that point in time, what you could hear more than anything else was that this was outsiders coming into the state.
[INTERVIEWER:] I’M SORRY, COULD YOU MENTION THE WORD FREEDOM RIDERS SOMEWHERE IN THERE, JUST SO I GET THAT—WE KNOW WHO YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT.
[Col. Floyd Mann:] All right.
[coughs] At this point in time, the most people in Alabama that you’d hear speaking about this, thought the Freedom Riders were a, were a group of people that—outsiders that were coming into the state that was coming to the state for—to cause problems. That's what the average person was saying around in Alabama at that time.
[INTERVIEWER:] WHAT ABOUT THE, THE CLIMATE COMING OUT OF THE GOVERNOR’S CAMPAIGN IN 1958?
[Col. Floyd Mann:]
[coughs] Well, I'm sure that this also, this also had a bearing because we had had an election in 1958 whereby both Governor Wallace and John Patterson was running against each other for governor and, of course, the segregation is—issue at that time was a strong issue in the race, very strong issue, and different groups of people were supporting different candidates because of those issues.
[INTERVIEWER:] CAN YOU GET MORE SPECIFIC ON THAT. LIKE WHAT, WHAT SORT OF ATTITUDES WERE TAKEN BY BOTH PATTERSON AND WALLACE.
[Col. Floyd Mann:] Well,
[coughs] let me say this. I think both Patterson and Wallace would have both enjoyed having the support of the Ku Klux Klan
[sic] if that answers your question.
[INTERVIEWER:] OK, LET’S CUT RIGHT THERE.
[cut]
[slate]
[CAMERA CREW MEMBER 1:] AND MARK.
[CAMERA CREW MEMBER 2:] MARKER.
[INTERVIEWER:] OK, SO I’M GONNA BACKTRACK A LITTLE BIT. JUST GIVE ME AN IDEA OF WHAT THE CHOICE WAS FOR THE PEOPLE OF ALABAMA IN THAT ELECTION, ‘58, ‘59.
[Col. Floyd Mann:] Well, in the 1958 election in the Governor's race you had a—the race was being run by Governor George Wallace and John Patterson. Governor John Patterson's father had been assassinated in Phenix City, Alabama. As a result of having been elected Attorney General and he was elected on a campaign to clean up vice and corruption in Phenix City which had been in—involved with crime for many years. Before he was able to take office he was assassinated. The Democratic Party then named his son—
[INTERVIEWER:] LET, LET ME STOP YOU RIGHT THERE. LET’S, LET’S CUT FOR A SECOND.
[CAMERA CREW MEMBER:] OK.
[cut]
[wild audio]
[INTERVIEWER:] —ABOUT PHENIX CITY—
[Col. Floyd Mann:] OK.
[INTERVIEWER:] —WILL NEVER MAKE IT IN THE FILM.
[cut]
[slate]
[Col. Floyd Mann:] Well, ask me the question again.
[INTERVIEWER:] OK.
[laughs]
[Col. Floyd Mann:] OK. So you don’t want Phenix City in the film.
[INTERVIEWER:] I DON’T THINK—
[Col. Floyd Mann:] OK. OK. OK.
[INTERVIEWER:] I DON’T THINK IT WILL MAKE IT. SO, JUST GIVE ME AN IDEA OF WHAT THE CHOICES WERE FOR THE VOTER IN ‘58 ELECTION IN ALABAMA.
[Col. Floyd Mann:] Well, in the 1958 governor's election, the choices was Governor John Patterson or Governor George Wallace. Both, at that time, segregation in Alabama was a political issue. And, I believe, at that point in time in Alabama, to those candidates it was very important that they receive support from people who felt very strongly on this is—issue. And so you will know more of what I mean, I'm talking about groups like the Ku Klux Klan
[sic], that type of people, because you have to remember, at that point in time in Alabama politics, that was before the voting act, so how other people felt at that time was not of a great concern of people running for Governor.
[INTERVIEWER:] OK, LET’S CUT THERE.
[cut]
[slate]
[CAMERA CREW MEMBER:] MARKER.
[INTERVIEWER:] SO LET’S—JUST RIGHT WHERE YOU STARTED BEFORE IN ‘58 ELECTION.
[Col. Floyd Mann:] Start again?
[INTERVIEWER:] YEAH, GO AHEAD.
[Col. Floyd Mann:] Over, totally?
[INTERVIEWER:] YEAH.
[laughs]
[Col. Floyd Mann:] Well, in the governor’s election in 1958, two candidates, Governor John Patterson and Governor George Wallace were the candidates. At that time in Alabama, segregation was an issue, a very burning issue apparently, and it became very competitive on the part of both Patterson and Wallace to try to get the support of people who felt very strongly about these issues because, as you are aware, black people—not many black people could vote in Alabama at that point in time. So, it’s very evident to me that who won the governor's race, at that point in time, would be the people who could muster the most white support.
[INTERVIEWER:] OK, THAT’S GOOD. AND SO, I’M SORRY LET’S CUT. LET ME JUST TAKE A BREAK HERE.
[cut]
[wild audio]
[INTERVIEWER:] WHAT THE CLIMATE WAS THEN.
[cut]
[slate]
[CAMERA CREW MEMBER:] OK. MARKER.
[INTERVIEWER:] OK, SO WHEN THE FREEDOM RIDERS CAME INTO THE STATE, THEY LEFT ATLANTA IN—ON MAY 14. THERE WAS AN OFFICIAL ON THE BUS. JUST EXPLAIN WHO THAT PERSON WAS AND WHY HE WAS ON THE BUS?
[Col. Floyd Mann:]
[coughs] Well, we knew that the bus was going to be coming into Alabama from Atlanta. We did not have any communications or any information from those people about what route they'd be taking in Alabama, so we decided that for the benefit of the state police and also try to protect this bus and the people on the bus, it would be important for us to have some type of information. So we sent one of the state investigators, a Mr. L. Cowden to Atlanta to board that bus. This, this was on Sunday, I remember, New Year’s Day of 1961.
[INTERVIEWER:] LET’S, LET’S STOP. LISTEN, I THINK—LET’S CUT FOR A SECOND. NEW YEAR’S—
[cut]
[slate]
[CAMERA CREW MEMBER:] MARKER.
[INTERVIEWER:] OK.
[Col. Floyd Mann:]
[coughs] We knew that it would be very important for the state police to know what route these people were going to take when they arrived in Alabama. So we thought it would be a good idea to send a state investigator to Atlanta to board this bus.
[coughs] And Mother’s Day 1961 was when they arrived in Alabama; Anniston, Alabama. While this bus was in Anniston the Ku Klux Klan
[sic] and other members surrounded that bus and would not let the people off the bus. While it was in the bus station they also cut the tires on the bus. They knew that those tires would go down. So when the bus left Anniston toward Birmingham, the Klan followed the bus out on the highway. Excuse me a minute. I need a little drink of water.
[INTERVIEWER:] SURE LET’S CUT.
[CAMERA CREW MEMBER:] SURE.
[cut]
[slate]
[CAMERA CREW MEMBER:] MARKER. OK, WE’RE SET.
[INTERVIEWER:] OK. LET’S SEE, WHY DON’T YOU JUST KEEP GOING RIGHT WHERE YOU LEFT OFF.
[Col. Floyd Mann:] OK. Several miles out of Anniston, the tire went down on the bus. The bus stopped. The Klan had followed the bus to this point. At that point they set the bus on fire, the Klansmen did.
[coughs] Those people on the bus could not get off the bus and if we had not had the state investigator on the bus, I think, everyone on the bus would have burned to death. But the investigator unlocked the door and pulled his gun and showed his badge and made the people back up and got the people off the bus. From that point they scattered around where the bus was burning and the more troopers arrived and then another bus arrived and they took that group on into Birmingham, where another outbreak occurred.
[INTERVIEWER:] WON’T YOU DESCRIBE THAT OUTBREAK?
[Col. Floyd Mann:]
[coughs] Well, I was not there, I just had reports of what had happened. Several people were beaten and some knocked unconscious.
[INTERVIEWER:] LET ME STOP YOU RIGHT THERE. WHY DON’T YOU BEGIN IN, IN BY SAYING—"
1. Background from thirdside.williamury.com/halting-a-murder/
THE PEACEKEEPER: HALTING A MURDER
"May 20, 1961. A group of African-American civil rights protesters led by John Lewis had just arrived at the bus station in Montgomery, Alabama, where a hate-filled white mob awaited them. As the mob closed in to attack with heavy clubs, Lewis urged his people: “Stand together. Don’t run. Just stand together!”
The mob yelled, “Kill him. Kill him.”
Murder might have ensued had not Floyd Mann charged into the bus station. Mann, Alabama’s public safety commissioner, was a committed segregationist but tough on law and order.
He fired his gun into the air and shouted, “There’ll be no killing here today.” A white attacker raised his bat for what would have been a final and probably fatal blow against young William Barbee.
Mann put his gun to the assailant’s head. “One more swing,” he said, “and you’re dead.” The violence promptly ceased."
2. Floyd Mann was the head of Alabama’s Department of Public Safety during the Freedom Rides and was instrumental in saving riders from vicious attacks.
Synopsis
Born on August 20, 1920, in Daviston, Alabama, Floyd Mann worked in law enforcement and became his home state's public safety director, appointed by John Patterson. The Freedom Rides' efforts to desegregate interstate travel was met with brutal violence, and Mann jumped into the fray to protect riders during the 1960 attack in Montgomery. Doing later university work, he died on January 12, 1996.
Background from
Floyd H. Mann was born on August 20, 1920, in Daviston, Alabama. He eventually joined the military and served in World War II as part of the Army Air Corps, receiving commendations and becoming a colonel.
Mann wed Grace Doss of Texas in the autumn of 1944.
Public Safety Director
Upon his return to the states, Floyd Mann attended the National Academy of the FBI and took to law enforcement, working as police chief in the city of Opelika for most of the 1950s. Towards the end of the decade he was appointed to run his home state's Department of Public Safety by newly elected governor John Patterson, who had strong segregationist ties.
Freedom Rides
The year 1961 marked the start of the Freedom Rides, a movement headed by the Congress for Racial Equality, or CORE, to formerly challenge segregation on Southern intestate bus travel, already technically illegal. Upon their travels to Birmingham and Alabama, the riders had faced horrifying violence, with some of the activists badly hurt.
Halts Vicious Attack
Mann had opposed the idea of police forces aiding racist zeal instead of following the duties of law enforcement. He had also been privy to much of the regional political machinations around the rides. Mann worked with others to place an investigator on one of the rides to Aniston who ultimately helped save citizens from being consumed by fire in a Ku Klux Klan attack.
After getting later information that Montgomery's own police officers were going to take the day off with the arrival of a Freedom Ride bus from Birmingham, thus abandoning their duty and offering the Riders no protection, Mann had 100 state troopers placed on standby at the police academy.
Upon the bus reaching Montgomery on May 20, 1961, a huge swarm of attackers besieged the riders, with federal operative John Seigenthaler knocked unconscious and others beaten bloody and running for their lives. Mann ran into the crowd by himself with his weapon and demanded a stop to the attack, immediately saving the badly battered Jim Zwerg and future Congressman John Lewis from continued assault. Mann had called for backup from his sequestered force, though some of his own officers were insubordinate.
Reflection and Later Years
The Montgomery attacks and resulting injuries gained international notoriety and further framed the harsh injustices faced by civil rights workers, with President John F. Kennedy sending over federal marshals. In a later interview with The Tuscaloosa News, Mann stated he was afraid yet his actions were "just a matter of doing what had to be done." The Freedom Rides ultimately helped to change the parameters of interstate travel. In an Eyes on the Prize interview, Mann also cited the legal-protection work of Judge Frank M. Johnson.
Mann eventually took on a post at the University of Alabama with its president David Matthews, and later served as his assistant in Washington, D.C., under the administration of President Gerald Ford. Mann subsequently helmed Alabama's Alcoholic Beverage Control Board in the early 1980s.
Floyd Mann died on January 12, 1996. He was survived by his wife, Grace, along with their children and grandchildren."
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