RICHMOND, Va. – Hannah Gebresilassie felt the weight of history when she boarded earlier this week a bus full of voting rights activists traveling from Georgia to Virginia. Sixty years ago, civil rights activists had also traveled by bus through the South in their fight for a more equal society.
The 30-year-old activist from Atlanta understood she was riding in the shadow of Freedom Riders.
“It’s been a liberating, emotional experience to know that the people who came before us paved the way,’’ said Gebresilassie, co-founder of Protect the Vote GA.
Gebresilassie was among a group of activists, faith leaders and civil rights advocates who joined the Black Voters Matter bus trip in recent days to fight to protect voting rights and commemorate