Floyd Mann was born in 1920 in Daviston, Alabama. During World War II he flew 27 missions as a tail gunner on a B-17 bomber. When the Freedom Riders came to Alabama in 1961, Floyd Mann was the Director of Public Safety under Governor John Patterson. In a meeting with the Governor and John Seigenthaler of the US Attorney General's Office, Mann contradicted the Governor's claim that Alabama was unable to protect the Freedom Riders from violence. The Freedom Riders entered Birmingham without protection. Mann had no authority within the city limits. He stationed Highway Patrolmen at the city limits and went to the bus station. He used his sidearm to protect some Freedom Riders from attackers and ordered a Highway Patrol vehicle to transport wounded James Zwerg to the hospital.
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