01/26/2026
This haunting photograph captures James Zwerg, a college student from Wisconsin, moments after being brutally beaten by a mob in Montgomery, Alabama for participating in the Freedom Rides in 1961.
After the assault, Zwerg lay unconscious for hours, ignored by white ambulance crews who refused to help him. Eventually, he was transported in an ambulance meant for Black patientsāa cruel testament to the systemic racism of the time.
Even in the hospital, as he recovered from his injuries, Zwerg spoke with remarkable courage:
āSegregation needs to end. She needs to be destroyed.ā
He was just one young man standing up for justiceāand today, at 85 years old, he is still alive, a living reminder that the fight against hate is never truly history.
This is not distant history. This is the cost of courage and the power of standing up for whatās right.