American Experience; Freedom Riders; Interview with E.L. "Lanny" Crane, 2 of 2

[Interviewer] Was it, could it have been possible that that people were moving off the sidewalk, or, you know, kind of-- ?was there something like that for you? You know, it was a custom and it didn't really register. Talk about that. [Crane] Ask me a lead-in question. Ask me a question to answer. [Interviewer] Did you notice people moving off the sidewalk? [Crane] In my youth going to town to the movies was part of the recreation for-- especially on Saturdays. There would be as many black people in town as white people but I never noticed black people getting out of the way to let me pass on the sidewalk. When we would go in to the movie it was just a custom that the white people sat in one part of the movie house and the black people in another part. I never really thought much about it, it was just the custom, whether it was law or not, I really don't even know today, if it was law or just the custom. [Interviewer] Um, last question, what do you think,

again this is on the freedom riders, I wish it could be on the whole Civil Rights Movement, but what do you think the freedom riders, which was one of the nails in this kind of civilization's, coffin, what do you think it accomplished? [Crane] I cant-- I don't know what the freedom riders accomplished. It was just one of a series of things that that changed the awareness of Southerners, changed the awareness of the nation, probably led to the voting rights bill. Which event was the most important, I do not know. [Interviewer] Ok, I'm good, something I should have asked you? [Crane] That's fine. [silence]