Doris Castle

Overview

Doris Jean Castle born Oakland, TN March 25, 1942 (d. 1948). Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) activist, 1959. One of the youngest Freedom Riders, 1960; persuaded James Farmer to join Freedom Riders, 1961. Arrested for picketing, spent five days in prison, 1960; one of eight women arrested for forming “freedom ring” at Loew's Theater, New Orleans, Good Friday, 1964. Imprisoned at notorious Parchman Prison.

Quotations

“We were scared to death. . . and you approach Montgomery, and you see all these blue shirts with sticks in their hands who are state troopers, and you don’t know what their orders are, you know? But nevertheless you don’t waver one way or the other, you just do it. . . We had to be out of our minds.” (Eva McMahan, Interactive Oral History, p. 39; photo Wikipedia)