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Igal Roodenko

Igal Roodenko, a Journey of Reconciliation rider, was arrested at the Chapel Hill bus station in April 1947 after he and Bayard Rustin took the front seats of two arrested riders. Judge Henry Whitfield, telling him Jews from New York could not upset Southern customs, gave him 30 days on a chain gang; he served 22 days at Roxboro in 1949.

Source: Carolina K-12, UNC: Journey of Reconciliation, 1947 (lesson and reading)

1 indexed work is connected with this person, and the index includes one work by Igal Roodenko.

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By Igal Roodenko

Oral history interview with Igal Roodenko, April 11, 1974 interview B-0010, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007).

Roodenko, Igal · 2007 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Southern Oral History Program group interview recorded April 11, 1974, with pacifist and civil rights worker Igal Roodenko joined by Joseph Felmet (1921-1994) and Charlotte Adams, questioned by Jacquelyn Hall and Jerry Wingate over about two and a quarter hours. Roodenko, born in New York in 1917 to immigrant parents, recalls the dilemma pacifists faced during the Second World War, conscientious objection, and Congress of Racial Equality activism against segregated transportation; the interview also covers chain gangs in North Carolina and civil rights demonstrations in Chapel Hill. Electronic edition, UNC Library, 2007.

NC Cardinal UNC

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, earliest first. See these 5 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Journey of Reconciliation comes to Chapel Hill Interracial riders testing segregation on interstate buses reached Chapel Hill on April 12, 1947. The next day police arrested four of them at the bus station and a white cab driver struck rider James Peck. Convicted in Orange County, Bayard Rustin, Igal Roodenko and Joe Felmet surrendered at the Hillsborough courthouse on March 21, 1949 to serve chain-gang sentences. People: Bayard Rustin, George Houser, Igal Roodenko, Joseph A. FelmetTown of Chapel Hill: Information packet for Freedom Riders resolution (Council agenda, January 28, 2008)
  2. Joseph Felmet is tried in Chapel Hill Recorder's Court on the bus seating charge and sentenced to the roads Felmet's trial, put off in May while Bayard Rustin and Igal Roodenko were tried, was held in Chapel Hill Recorder's Court on June 24, 1947. He was sentenced to the county roads, appealed to Superior Court and posted a $50 bond. People: Bayard Rustin, Andrew Johnson (Journey of Reconciliation), Igal RoodenkoSearch the index · DigitalNC: The Daily Tar Heel, December 4, 1948, page 4
  3. An Orange County Superior Court jury convicts Felmet and the other three Chapel Hill bus defendants A jury found Andrew S. Johnson, Bayard Rustin, Igal Roodenko and Joseph Felmet guilty of breaking the bus seating law, and Judge Chester Morris sentenced each to 30 days. The men, defended by C. J. Gates, Herman L. Taylor and E. R. Avent, appealed to the North Carolina Supreme Court and posted bond. People: Bayard Rustin, Andrew Johnson (Journey of Reconciliation), Igal RoodenkoSearch the index · DigitalNC: The News of Orange County, March 25, 1948, page 1
  4. North Carolina Supreme Court upholds the convictions of Felmet and the other Chapel Hill bus riders In State v. Johnson the court affirmed the Orange County convictions, holding that the state seating statutes applied unless the riders proved they were interstate passengers. The opinion, like the lower court record, spells his name Joseph A. Felmont. People: Bayard Rustin, Andrew Johnson (Journey of Reconciliation), Igal RoodenkoSearch the index · Caselaw Access Project: State v. Johnson, 229 N.C. 701 (1949)
  5. Journey of Reconciliation convictions are vacated On June 17, 2022, Orange County Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour vacated the disorderly conduct convictions of Bayard Rustin, Igal Roodenko, Andrew Johnson and Joseph Felmet. The four Journey of Reconciliation riders had been arrested in Chapel Hill in April 1947 for refusing to leave the front of an interstate bus. People: Bayard Rustin, Igal Roodenko, Andrew Johnson (Journey of Reconciliation), Joseph A. FelmetOrange County, NC: Journey of Reconciliation

Places in this person’s story

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Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange and OpenStreetMap; town and community pins mark the middle of their mapped buildings.

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  • Roodenko, Igal
  • NC LIVE: prepared search for Igal Roodenko Library card An advanced search of the state’s shared databases already scoped to Orange County’s places and this subject; edit it freely, and sign in through your North Carolina library to read
  • Ancestry Library Edition In the libraryOrange County Public Library Census, birth, death and marriage records, and more, free on the public computers at OCPL libraries

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