U.S. Reps. Shomari Figures and Terri Sewell are asking that the Montgomery Bus Station, home to the Freedom Rides Museum, be removed from the list of federal properties for sale.
Figures and Sewell sent a joint letter to the General Services Administration’s acting administrator Stephen Ehikian highlighting the national importance of the Montgomery Bus Station and museum and encouraged him to remove the site from a list of properties that are for sale.
“The museum serves as an essential historical landmark that not only honors the legacy of the Freedom Riders but also educates the public about our nation’s struggle for equality and justice,” Sewell and Figures wrote. “Given its historical and cultural significance, we strongly encourage the GSA to remove the Freedom Rides Museum from the list. It is crucial that we preserve such landmarks, which are integral to understanding our shared history.”
The Montgomery Bus Station was one of numerous properties controlled by the GSA, which has been tasked by unelected billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to sell off many of the properties and cut up to 63 percent of the GSA staff.
GSA first published its list of properties to be sold on Tuesday, but later in the day cut more than 100 properties from the list. Then, on Wednesday, it removed the entire list from the website.
APR spoke with an employee at the Freedom Rides Museum on Wednesday. He said that GSA officials had not contacted the museum and they were left in the dark on the building’s status. He said the museum leased its space from GSA.
The Montgomery Bus Station was the site of an attack in 1961 on Freedom Riders, a group of civil rights activists who rode segregated buses in an effort to desegregate interstate commerce. When the Riders arrived in Montgomery, they were met by a white mob, including several KKK members, who beat them with baseball bats and clubs.
