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Founded in 1942, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) was an interracial civil rights organization that supported nonviolent direct action to fight segregation and discrimination. The organization collaborated with other civil rights groups in some of the most significant protests of the civil rights movement, including the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the 1961 Freedom Rides. Keep reading to learn about the work of CORE and the reason for the organization's radicalization in the late 1960s.
During World War II, Black Americans mobilized to support the Allied war effort on a mass scale. Over 2.5 million Black men registered for the draft, and Black citizens on the home front contributed to the defense industry and participated in rationing just as everyone else. But, despite their contributions, they were fighting for a country that did not treat them as equal citizens. Even in the armed forces, segregation was the norm.
In 1942, an interracial group of students in Chicago came together to form the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), an offshoot of the parent organization,the Fellowship of Reconciliation。Looking towards the peaceful protests of Gandhi, the Congress of Racial Equality preached the importance of nonviolent direct action. This action included sit-ins, pickets, boycotts, and marches, among other methods.
The Fellowship of Reconciliation
In 1915, over 60 pacifists joined to form the United States branch of the Fellowship of Reconciliation in response to America's entry into World War I. They went on to focus on both domestic and international conflicts, emphasizing the existence of nonviolent alternatives. They also published a magazine calledFellowshipwith several famous contributors, including Gandhi. The Fellowship of Reconciliation exists to this day as one of America's oldest interfaith, pacifist organizations.
The Congress of Racial Equality began with protests against racial segregation in the North, but in 1947, the organization expanded its activities. The Supreme Court had overturned segregation in interstate travel facilities, and CORE wanted to test the actual enforcement. And so, in 1947, the organization launchedJourney of Reconciliation,in which members rode buses across the Upper South. This would become the model for the famous Freedom Rides in 1961 (more on later).
By the early 1950s, the Congress of Racial Equality seemed to decline. The desegregation of local businesses did not have the expansive nationwide effect they had intended, and several local chapters ceased their activities. But, in 1954, the Supreme Court made a decision that renewed fuel to the civil rights movement. InBrown v. Board of Education of Topeka, the Supreme Court overruledthe "separate but equal" doctrine, ending segregation.
With renewed vigor, the Congress of Racial Equality expanded South and played an active role inthe Montgomery Bus Boycottof 1955 and 1956. Through their involvement with the boycott, CORE began a relationship withMartin Luther King, Jr.and his organization, theSouthern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)。King aligned with CORE's approach to peaceful protest, and they collaborated on programs such as the Voter Education Project.
In 1961,James Farmerbecame the national director of the Congress of Racial Equality. He helped organizethe Freedom Ridesin collaboration with the SCLC and theStudent Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)。类似于和解之旅,他们一个ttempted to test desegregation in interstate travel facilities. This time, however, their focus was the Deep South. Although riders of the Journey of Reconciliation faced violence, it paled in comparison to the violence faced by the Freedom Riders. This violence garnered national media attention, and Farmer used the increased exposure to launch several campaigns in the South.
Although the Congress of Racial Equality began with an interracial, nonviolent approach, by the mid-1960s, the organization had become increasingly radicalized due to the violence faced by CORE members as well as the influence of Black nationalists such asMalcolm X。This led to a power struggle in 1966 which sawFloyd McKissick接任国家主任。McKissick正式endorsed theBlack Power movement。
In 1964, CORE members traveled to Mississippi for the MississippiFreedom Summer, where they held a voter registration drive. While there, three members–Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney–were murdered at the hands of white supremacists.
In 1968,Roy Innistook over as national director. Even more radical in his beliefs, his rise to power led James Farmer and other members to leave the organization. Innis endorsed Black separatism, retracting the early goal of integration and phasing out white membership. He also supported capitalism, which many members saw as a source of oppression. As a result, by the late 1960s, the Congress of Racial Equality had lost much of its influence and vitality.
Let's look at the three national directors of CORE discussed above.
James Farmer was born in Marshall, Texas, on January 12, 1920. When America entered World War II, Farmer avoided service as a conscientious objector on religious grounds. Believing in pacifism, he joined the Fellowship of Reconciliation before helping found the Congress of Racial Equality in 1942. As we discussed earlier, Farmer served as national director from 1961 to 1965 but soon left due to the organization's increasing radicalism. In 1968, he ran an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. House of Representatives. Still, he did not abandon the world of politics altogether, as he served as Nixon's assistant secretary of health, education, and welfare in 1969. Farmer passed away on July 9, 1999, in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Floyd McKissick was born on March 9, 1922, in Asheville, North Carolina. After World War II, he joined CORE and served as a youth chairman of theNational Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)。He decided to pursue a legal career, but when he applied to the University of North Carolina Law School, he was denied because of his race. So instead, he attended North Carolina Central College.
With the help of future Supreme Court JusticeThurgood Marshall, Floyd McKissick sued the University of North Carolina Law School and was accepted in 1951. By this time, he had already received a law school degree but attended summer classes to honor his argument.
With his law degree, Floyd McKissick fought for the civil rights movement in the legal arena, defending Black citizens arrested for sit-ins and the like. But, by the late 1960s, McKissick had become more radical in his beliefs due to the violence of white supremacists. He abandoned his endorsement of a nonviolent approach, arguing that self-defense and nonviolent tactics were not always compatible. In 1966. McKissick served as the national director of CORE, a position he held for two years.
In 1972, Floyd McKissick received government funding to found a city with integrated leadership in North Carolina. Unfortunately, by 1979, the government declared Soul City economically unviable. And so, McKissick returned to the legal field. In 1990, he became a judge of the Ninth Judicial Circuit but passed away due to lung cancer just one year later, in 1991.
罗伊•英尼斯出生于1934年6月6日,维珍Islands but moved to the United States in 1947 after his father's death. The racial discrimination he faced in Harlem, New York City, was quite a shock compared to the Virgin Islands. Through his second wife, Doris Funnye, Innis became involved with CORE and went on to become a national director in 1968 during its radical stage.
Roy Innis supported Black community control, mainly when it came to education. The same year he became national director, he helped draftthe Community Self-Determination Act of 1968,which became the first bill by a civil rights organization ever presented to Congress. Although it did not pass, it had significant bipartisan support. After losing his two sons to gun violence, Innis also became a vocal supporter of the Second Amendment and gun rights for self-defense. He passed away on January 8, 2017.
In the Congress of Racial Equality’s early years, the organization used nonviolent protest to desegregate businesses in the local Chicago area. But CORE expanded its scope with the Journey of Reconciliation, the precursor to the 1961 Freedom Rides. Soon, CORE became one of the most influential organizations of the civil rights movement, on par with the NAACP and SCLC.The organization played a significant role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the 1961 Freedom Rides, and MississippiFreedom Summerbefore its radicalization in the late 1960s.
The Congress of Racial Equality was an interracial civil rights organization that preached the use of nonviolent direct action, such as sit-ins and boycotts.
The Congress of Racial Equality laid the groundwork for the 1961 Freedom Rides and collaborated with other civil rights organizations in a number of significant protests, such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Members of the Fellowship of Reconciliation branched off to found the Congress of Racial Equality.
The goal of the Congress of Racial Equality was to bring an end to segregation and discrimination.
The Congress of Racial Equality played a large role in some of the most significant protests of the civil rights movement, such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott and 1961 Freedom Rides.
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