Biography
Albert Forrest Gordon, a high-school teacher, was arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, on July 9, 1961, for participating in the Freedom Rides and challenging segregation in interstate transportation. The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission catalog preserves his individually identified police photograph. An FBI report visibly names Gordon among the defendants tried in Jackson Municipal Court on July 10, 1961: they pleaded not guilty, were convicted of disorderly conduct under Mississippi Code section 2087.5, and received four-month jail sentences and $200 fines. His actual physical release date and total time served remain unverified; the imposed four-month sentence is not treated as time actually served.
Original conviction and plea verified
The FBI reports preserved by the Civil Rights Movement Archive, printed page 12, visibly name Albert Forrest Gordon even though the scanned name was omitted from the native OCR. They date his Jackson Municipal Court trial to July 10, 1961 and state that all defendants pleaded not guilty, were convicted under Mississippi Code section 2087.5, and were sentenced to four months in jail and $200 fines. Printed pages 13–14 reproduce the disorderly-conduct statute; its alternative provisions and maximum penalties are not separate proven charges or actual time served. Printed page 15 separately reports that the group arrested at the Trailways station July 9 was transferred to Parchman July 11, but supplies no individually named reception or discharge record. The missing plea and specific statutory charge are added, and stale biography wording that the disposition was unresolved is corrected. Actual release and total custody duration remain unresolved.
Birth date from the individually named arrest card
The attached original police record for Albert Forrest Gordon, PDF page 11, visibly records June 18, 1934, Antwerp, Belgium, together with age 27, occupation high-school teacher, and the July 9, 1961 arrest. This fills his previously empty birth-date field with day precision. The reverse, PDF page 12, dates the four-month sentence and $200 fine to July 10, 1961 and marks the plea not guilty, corroborating his already recorded disposition. Neither side gives an actual release date; four imposed months are not added as four months served. The front and reverse belong to Gordon and are not evidence of another rider’s sentence.
Jackson Police Department original report, attached Gordon record, PDF pages 11–12
