Riding Into History
The Surprising Story of Sarah Keys Evans and the Fight to Desegregate Bus Travel
Duke University Press · Print & ebook · March 24, 2026
As a member of the integrated Women’s Army Corps, Private First Class Sarah Keys served her country as a receptionist at Fort Dix, New Jersey.
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- Who it’s for
- Sarah Keys’s case traces a challenge to segregation in interstate bus travel.
- Themes
- Civil rights activism, Racial segregation, Black women’s history
- Genres
- Black & African American Lives, Activist Lives, Women's Lives
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As a member of the integrated Women’s Army Corps, Private First Class Sarah Keys served her country as a receptionist at Fort Dix, New Jersey. When she boarded a bus home to North Carolina in 1952, she never expected to be arrested and charged with disorderly conduct for refusing to move to the rear so a white Marine could take her seat. Her landmark 1955 Civil Rights victory, “Sarah Keys v.
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Carolina Coach Company” not only desegregated interstate bus travel, it also provided the legal precedent needed during the 1961 Freedom Rides to pressure the Interstate Commerce Commission to properly enforce its Sarah Keys ruling. Often overlooked in many accounts of the Civil Rights era, her arrest and victory are crucial milestones in the fight against segregation. Riding into History draws on years of personal conversations with Sarah Keys Evans as well as extensive research to present a biography of this hero and her role in the struggle for civil rights alongside the long history of many other Black Americans, especially women, who protested racial segregation in interstate travel.
Sarah Keys’s Case
Sarah Keys’s case traces a challenge to segregation in interstate bus travel.
Come here for
- Sarah Keys Evans’s biography and her role in desegregating interstate bus travel
- Black Americans, especially women, who protested segregation in interstate travel
Expect
- Her 1952 arrest and 1955 legal victory, and their connection to the Freedom Rides
- Personal conversations with Keys Evans alongside extensive research
Where it sits
| Black & African American Lives | 60% |
|---|---|
| Women's Lives | 41% |
| Activist Lives | 33% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Black & African American Lives
- 20th-Century America
- African American Studies
- Authors
- Amy Nathan
- Publisher
- Duke University Press
- Published
- March 24, 2026
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Civil rights activism · Racial segregation · Black women’s history
- Reading lane
- Black & African American Lives