The documentary film Freedom Riders chronicles the journey of black and white men and women who traveled together on buses through the segregated American South in 1961 to challenge racial segregation. They faced hardships like attacks and their buses being burned, but ultimately succeeded in desegregating interstate transportation and advancing equal rights. The film effectively conveyed the flaws of segregation and government support for it using interviews and footage from the era to show audiences how far civil rights have progressed since then due to the choices of activists like the Freedom Riders.