National newspaper and television coverage of the earlier violence galvanized the Nashville Student Movement, which had already challenged segregation through lunch counter sit-ins, stand-ins, and other nonviolent protests. On May 17, eight black and two white college students, all age 23 or younger, volunteered to continue the Freedom Ride immediately. Their actions and the brutal response they endured inspired 436 more Americans to become Freedom Riders during the summer of 1961. These riders came from many backgrounds and included black and white men and women, young and old. Although later riders faced more violence and 300 were jailed in Mississippi's Parchman Prison, the rides achieved both practical and inspirational victories. Within six months of the first ride, travelers of all races were sitting together on buses and trains across the nation without fear of arrest, and the white and colored signs that had marked Southern bus and train stations for decades were gone. Historian Ray Arsenault judged the rides a pivotal moment in American history because they helped bring a revolutionary change in citizen politics and foreshadowed the grassroots rights revolution that would transform American citizenship over the next four decades. After a mistrial, five of the six men indicted for the bus burning pled guilty and received one-year probation sentences from Federal District Court Judge Hobart Grooms, while a sixth served time concurrent with a burglary sentence.