As the final season of 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' comes to a close, Winfrey is making a concerted effort to dedicate the last episodes to significant social topics and notable people. On today's (May 4) show, Winfrey - who plans to focus exclusively on running her newly launched OWN Network after the show ends on May 25 - has invited 178 of the original Freedom Riders to appear as special guests.
Their appearance marks the 50th anniversary of the first Freedom Ride in 1961, when a group of civil rights activists journeyed by bus from Washington, D.C. to New Orleans in an effort to gauge the effects of Boynton v. Virginia, a U.S. Supreme Court case in which the court deemed the segregation of public transportation unconstitutional. Among the original Freedom Riders was U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, who will be one of Winfrey's guests today. Of the Freedom Riders, Winfrey says: "Life would be different were it not for them."