[1] In 1961 he became involved in the civil rights movement after he was invited by the Congress of Racial Equality to travel as part of the Freedom Riders on an integrated bus from St. Louis to Little Rock.
[5] The group carefully researched and made extensive preparations--Bonnie went undercover as a Swarthmore student studying FBI hiring practices of women, and was allowed access to the interior of the building, where she took note of security systems and layout.
[3] They decided to break in on March 8, 1971, the night of the historic boxing match between Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali, knowing that security personnel would be distracted by the fight.
[2] The case remained unsolved for decades until Raines revealed his involvement to investigative reporter Betty Medsger (who had initially broken the original story), long after the statute of limitations had past.
[2] During a summer break, he met and married Bonnie Raines (nee Muir), a waitress from Michigan State University who had also joined a political group dedicating to improving racial relations.