Md. looks to repeal freedom riders law

CAMBRIDGE, Md., Nov. 30 (UPI) -- A Maryland law meant to prevent civil rights-era "freedom riders" from encouraging blacks to protest segregation should be eliminated, legislators say.

The "Jim Crow" law, passed in 1964 at the height of the civil rights movement, was a response to race riots in the Eastern Shore town of Cambridge, Md. It outlawed Freedom Riders -- protesters who traveled on buses into the segregated South -- from giving bus fare or any other payment to local blacks who planned to participate in anti-discrimination protests, The Sun newspaper in Baltimore reported Sunday.

Although the law has never been enforced, Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler has said that courts would likely find that the statute is unconstitutional under the First Amendment.

Maryland legislative leaders told The Sun they plan to introduce legislation to repeal the law during the state General Assembly session that begins in January, and Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley has indicated he would support the bill.

Civil rights riots hit Cambridge in June 1963, and Gov. J. Millard Tawes imposed martial law on the city, the newspaper said. U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy called the Maryland parties to Washington to mediate a desegregation agreement.