Congress of Racial Equality

CORE information
Abbreviation	CORE
Formation	1942; 83 years ago (1942)
Legal status	Currently active
Purpose	To bring about equality for all people regardless of race, creed, sex, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion or ethnic background.
Headquarters	Las Vegas,Nevada, United States[1]
Website	thecongressofracialequality.org

TheCongress of Racial Equality (CORE) is anAfrican-Americancivil rights organization in the United States that played a pivotal role forAfrican Americans in thecivil rights movement. Founded in 1942, its stated mission is "to bring about equality for all people regardless of race, creed, sex, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion or ethnic background."^[2] To combat discriminatory policies regarding interstate travel, CORE participated in Freedom Rides as college students boarded Greyhound Buses headed for the Deep South. As the influence of the organization grew, so did the number of chapters, eventually expanding all over the country. Despite CORE remaining an active part of the fight for change, some people have noted the lack of organization and functional leadership has led to a decline of participation in social justice.

CORE was founded inChicago, Illinois, in March 1942. The organization's founding members includedJames Leonard Farmer Jr.,Anna Pauline "Pauli" Murray,George Mills Houser,Elsie Bernice Fisher,Homer A. Jack, and James R Robinson. Of the 50 original founding members, 28 were men and 22 were women, roughly one-third of them were Black, and the other two-thirds white.^[3][4]Bayard Rustin, while not a founding member of the organization, was, as Farmer and Houser later noted, "an uncle to CORE" and provided it with significant support. The group had evolved out of the pacifistFellowship of Reconciliation, and sought to apply the principles ofnonviolence as a tactic againstracial segregation.^[5]

The group was inspired by Indian nationalist leaderMahatma Gandhi's support fornonviolent resistance.^[6] Indian writer and journalistKrishnalal Shridharani, who was known as a vibrant and theatrical public speaker, had been a protege of Gandhi—being jailed with him in theSalt March—and whose 1939 bookWar Without Violence heavily influenced the organization.^[7] During the period in which CORE was founded, Gandhi's leadership of theindependence movement in India againstBritish colonial rule was reaching its apogee. CORE sought to apply the nonviolent anti-colonial tactics pioneered by Gandhi and his followers to successfully challengeracial segregation andracism in the United States throughcivil disobedience.^[8][4][9]

In accordance with CORE's constitution and bylaws, in the early and mid-1960s, chapters were organized on a model similar to that of a democratictrade union, with monthly membership meetings, elected and usually unpaid officers, and numerous committees of volunteers. In the South, CORE's nonviolentdirect action campaigns opposed "Jim Crow" segregation and job discrimination, and fought for voting rights. Outside the South, CORE focused on discrimination in employment and housing, and also inde facto school segregation. "Jim Crow" laws are laws that enforce racial segregation and discrimination in the United States.

Some of CORE's main leadership had strong disagreements with theDeacons for Defense and Justice over the Deacons' public threat toracist Southerners that they would use armed self-defense to protect CORE workers from racist organizations, such as theKu Klux Klan, inLouisiana during the 1960s. Others strongly supported the organization. By the mid-1960s, Farmer tried to incorporate elements of the emergingblack nationalist sentiments within CORE—sentiments that, among other things, would quickly lead to an embrace ofBlack Power. Farmer failed to reconcile these tensions, and he resigned in 1966, but he backed his replacement,Floyd McKissick.^[10][11]

By 1961 CORE had 53 chapters throughout the United States. By 1963, most of the major urban centers of the Northeast, Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, and West Coast had one or more CORE chapters, including a growing number of chapters on college campuses. In the South, CORE had active chapters and projects inLouisiana,Mississippi,Florida,South Carolina, andKentucky.^[12]

In 1944,Irene Morgan, an African American woman, was arrested for refusing to move from the front "white" seating section to the back "colored" seating section of a Greyhound interstate bus while traveling from Virginia to Maryland. After the Virginia state court upheld her conviction and arrest, Morgan's case was brought before the Supreme Court withMorgan v. Virginia on June 3, 1946.

Initially, Morgan's legal team only includedSpottswood Robinson III, but they were later joined byNAACP lawyersThurgood Marshall andWilliam H. Hastie. They used theInterstate Commerce Clause in the Constitution, which declared that states could not impose rules that interfered with passengers crossing state lines, as the prevailing tactic to argue her case. However, Virginia state courts did not find this argument convincing.^[13]

Contrarily, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Irene and asserted that the Virginia Legislature could not impose segregation among interstate bus travelers. This landmark ruling would go on to inspire CORE members to seek out non-violent ways to push back against segregation outside of the court system.^[14][13]

On April 10, 1947, CORE sent a group of eight white men, includingJames Peck, their publicity officer, and eight black men, on what was to be a two-weekJourney of Reconciliation throughVirginia,North Carolina,Tennessee, andKentucky, to test state’s compliance with the Supreme Court’s decisions regarding segregation within interstate travel.^[15][16]

The group was composed of men only, to get around certain laws of the time that restricted the mixing of males and females.^[17] These participants then underwent rigorous training aimed at equipping them with the necessary skills to react non-violently, even in the face of violent behaviors. They would act out intense role-playing exercises to simulate real-life scenarios they may encounter, in an attempt to improve their resolve in the face of violence. Throughout the two-week period, they completed twenty-six demonstrations on buses or trains.^[17] Out of these twenty-six demonstrations, six resulted in arrests. The members of this group received a great deal of publicity, and this marked the beginning of a long series of similar campaigns.^[16][15][17]

In the early 1960's,James Farmer resumed his position as executive secretary of CORE, with the objective of replicating the 1947Journey of Reconciliation, only this time under a new name - theFreedom Ride.^[17]

On May 4, 1961, male and female participants started their journey through the deepSouth, testing segregated bus terminals as well. The riders were met with severeviolence. InAnniston, Alabama, one of the buses was fire-bombed and passengers were beaten by a white mob. White mobs also attackedFreedom Riders inBirmingham andMontgomery.^[18] The violence garnered national attention, sparking a summer of similar rides by CORE, theStudent Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and othercivil rights organizations and thousands of ordinary citizens.^[19]

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In the 1960s, theChicago chapter of CORE began to challenge racial segregation in theChicago Public Schools (CPS), addressing disparities in educational opportunities for African American students. By the late 1950s, theChicago Board of Education's maintenance of the neighborhood school policy resulted in a pattern of racial segregation in the CPS. Predominantly black schools were situated in predominantly black neighborhoods on the south and west sides of the city, while predominantly white schools were located in predominantly white areas in the north, northwest and southwest sides of Chicago.^[20]

Many segregated schools were very overcrowded. To ease this overcrowding, the Board instated double shifts at some of the schools which helped with the overcrowding but provided new issues. Double shifts meant that students in affected schools attended less than a full day of class. In another measure to alleviate overcrowding at some schools, the Board sanctioned the construction of mobile classroom units. Moreover, a significant proportion of students dropped out before finishing high school. Faculty was segregated, and many teachers in predominantly black schools lacked full-time teaching experience compared to teachers in white schools. In addition, the history curriculum did not mention African Americans. According to CORE, "school segregation [was] a damaging bacteria, a psychological handicap, which [festered] a disease generating widespread unemployment and crime in Chicago".^[21]

Between 1960 and 1963, CORE diligently wrote letters addressing the conditions of schools to various authorities, including the Board of Education (led by Superintendent Benjamin Willis), MayorRichard J. Daley, theIllinois House of Representatives, and the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, advocating for improvements in educational equality. In addition, CORE attended the Board's school budget hearings, speaking against segregation and asking for the Board to implement transfer plans to desegregate the schools. In July 1963, CORE staged a week-long sit-in and protest at the Board office in downtown Chicago in response to the Board's inaction. Finally, Board President Claire Roddewig and Willis agreed to meet with CORE to negotiate integration, but no significant changes came to the schools.^[22]

During the mid-1960s, CORE turned towards community involvement, seeking to equip Chicagoans with ways to challenge segregation. Freedom Houses, transfer petitions, community rallies and meetings served to educate Chicagoans about segregation and provide them with tools to circumnavigate the neighborhood school policy.^[23]

By 1966, theChicago Freedom Movement, led byMartin Luther King Jr., theSouthern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and Chicago's Coordinating Council of Community Organizations (CCCO), had assumed control over civil rights demonstrations and negotiations. While CORE was a member organization of the CCCO, it increasingly lost influence over desegregation efforts. And when the Chicago Freedom Movement met with representatives of the city to negotiate in the summer of 1966, they agreed on ten fair housing reforms but did not discuss reforms to desegregate the schools. While CORE played no role in the housing summit, it had shifted towards promoting and developing Black power in Chicago. By the fall of 1966, CORE was no longer a civil rights organization, but a Black power organization. Changes in CORE's national leadership and continued inaction on behalf of the Board to desegregate the schools pushed CORE towards separatism and away from desegregation efforts. The chapter collapsed in October 1968.^{[citation needed]}

In 1962, CORE set up a headquarters in Durham, North Carolina where upon arrival, local black women activists, includingSadie Sawyer Hughley, welcomed them into their homes.^[24] CORE worked with the local NAACP to organize pickets at Eckerd's Drug Store andHoward Johnson's. The goals were to increase employment opportunities for black workers and integrate local restaurants.

In 1963, the organization helped organize the famous March on Washington. On August 28, 1963, more than 250,000 people marched peacefully to theLincoln Memorial to demand equal justice for all citizens under the law. At the end of the marchMartin Luther King Jr. made his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.^[25]

The following year, CORE along with theStudent Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and theNational Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) helped organize the "Freedom Summer" campaign—aimed principally at ending the political disenfranchisement of African Americans in the Deep South. Operating under the umbrella coalition of theCouncil of Federated Organizations (COFO), volunteers from the three organizations concentrated their efforts in Mississippi. In 1962 only 6.7 percent of African Americans in the state were registered to vote, the lowest percentage in the country. This involved the formation of theMississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP). Over 80,000 people joined the party and 68 delegates attended theDemocratic Party Convention inAtlantic City and challenged the attendance of the all-white Mississippi representation.^[26]

CORE, SNCC, and COFO collaborated to establish 30 Freedom Schools in towns across Mississippi. As a group, the three organizations collected volunteers that taught in the schools and the curriculum now included black history, the philosophy of the civil rights movement. During the summer of 1964 over 3,000 students attended these schools and the experiment provided a model for future educational programs such asHead Start.

Freedom Schools were often targets of white mobs. So also were the homes of local African Americans involved in the campaign. That summer 30 black homes and 37 black churches were firebombed. Over 80 volunteers were beaten by white mobs or racist police officers. Three CORE activists,James Chaney,Andrew Goodman andMichael Schwerner, were murdered by theKu Klux Klan on June 21, 1964 (seeMurders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner). These deaths created nationwide publicity for the campaign.^[27][28]

CORE, at its heart, is an organization dedicated to non-violent philosophies and practices. InLouisiana, efforts were being made to increase voter registration among rural communities. Though their motives were noble, there was no national attention or support gathering around the work of the Louisiana members. As such, acts of violence or harassment against them often went unreported and the victims were not supported by the public. Compounding this issue, both the national and local government felt no responsibility to protect these members or supply federal intervention. These underlying issues in Louisiana stirred up support among local CORE members for the idea of allowing armed self-defense within their ranks.^[29]

The idea of armed-self defense would be supported by CORE co-founderJames Farmer after an incident in Plaquemine, Louisiana. On September 1, 1963 local police of Plaqumine threatened to lynch Farmer after a CORE demonstration in the city turned violent. As a result, he had to be smuggled out of the city accompanied by two armed men. After this event, Farmer would go on to permit armed guards to attend CORE meetings.^[29]

In New York City, the Brooklyn chapter of CORE was seen as one of the most radical chapters of CORE. This chapter employed increasingly aggressive tactics with a focus on racial discrimination. Primarily, the Brooklyn chapter of CORE used community-based activism which made it one of the most influential chapters in history. In 1964, the group held a Stall-In, deliberately preventing the flow of traffic to theWorld Fair with the goal of drawing attention to racial discrimination, which was one of their main focuses. Brooklyn's CORE's aggressive tactics would cause it to be suspended from the National CORE groups.^[30]

Brooklyn's CORE used the slogan "Jim Crow Must Go" to raise awareness about the unequal schooling that African American children faced at this time as well as the overall unequal treatment of African Americans. While this slogan was typically associated with the south because they hadJim Crow Laws, using it in the north allowed Brooklyn's CORE leaders to gain public acknowledgement that the north also had racial discrimination issues, just as the south did.^[31]

CORE made significant strides in the civil rights movement in Kentucky, establishing its first chapter in Lexington in 1959. This chapter went on to be the strongest and longest-lasting chapter in Kentucky history. With other branches established in Louisville, Frankfort, Richmond, and Covington, CORE often collaborated with theNAACP and also other organizations that were a part of the same movement. One of the most notable collaborations with the NAACP was the successful challenge against Louisville’s residential segregation ordinance in the caseBuchanan v. Warley on November 5, 1917.^[32]

This victory marked a big turning point in the history of CORE, especially in the state of Kentucky.  It attracted over 1,000 new members in Kentucky and was one of the first major civil rights victories. Although this was a big moment in Kentucky history, the NAACP had initiated direct action protests in Louisville even before CORE entered the state. This offered a base for the members of the CORE chapters in Kentucky to work off of and helped make strides in the movements of CORE.^[32]

CORE provided more interracial cooperation than other organizations, especially in the Lexington chapter, which consisted of mostly teachers and clergymen from the University of Kentucky. Their inaugural sit-in on July 11, 1959, at the Varsity Village Restaurant near the University of Kentucky campus, attended by both black and white members, set a precedent for peaceful protest. Despite their nonviolent approach, resistance from store managers often resulted in violence. This led to training sessions that were in place to prepare demonstrators for physical and verbal abuse, which many of the members encountered at these early sit-ins. They used new strategies, such as the “integrated sandwich plan”, where African Americans would sit next to a white member and the white member would order them a sandwich. These acts were only available to them as they were a group that encouraged interracial cooperation. Overall, CORE's presence and outlook on protests catalyzed momentum for civil rights advancement in Kentucky.^[32]

At the same time in New York City, the Harlem chapter of CORE was very active in supporting African Americans in New York. The Harlem chapter joined forces withColumbia University'sStudent Non-Violent Coordinating Committee,Mau Mau, and other Harlem residents in order to protest different causes that stemmed from institutionalized racism. One of these causes was the opposition of Columbia University's perceived complacency in surrounding theVietnam War. These groups also voiced their opinions that they were not in support of the university making plans for the building of a gym inMorningside Park, and brought awareness to the lack of student involvement in discipline at Columbia University.^[33] In addition to these efforts, the Harlem chapter of CORE gathered food and resources in Hamilton Hall, for the impoverished to use as needed.

On September 4, 1966, Robert Lucas and fellow members of CORE led activists through Cicero, Illinois, to pressure the city of Chicago's white leaders into making solid commitments to open housing. Shortly before the march, Chicago city officials, including MayorRichard J. Daley, negotiated a Fair Housing agreement withMartin Luther King Jr.,James Bevel,Al Raby and others in exchange for an end of demonstrations.^[34] Robert Lucas and other members of CORE felt that the march was strategically necessary and proceeded with it anyway.^[35] The march is documented in the 1966 short documentary filmCicero March, which was added to theNational Film Registry in 2013.

CORE chapters in several Bay Area cities were instrumental in organizing civil rights protests throughout the area in the 1960s. Along with other local organizations, Bay Area CORE members targeted businesses that refused to change discriminatory hiring practices. Picketers demanded that businesses includingMel's Drive-in, Sheraton Palace, and Bank of America hire more minorities and provide opportunities for employment in higher level positions. Bay Area chapters also organized protests to show support and solidarity with civil rights organizers throughout the country.^[36][37]

In 1966, James Farmer resigned as Director of CORE. He was replaced byBlack Power advocateFloyd McKissick until 1968, when California activist Wilfred T. Ussery served a brief term as national chairman. He was replaced byRoy Innis, who was the National Chairman until his death in 2017.^[38] Innis initially led the organization to strongly supportblack nationalism. However, subsequent political developments within the organization led it to supportconservative political positions.^[39]

TheFBI's "COINTELPRO" program targeted civil rights groups, including the CORE, for infiltration, discreditation and disruption.^[40] In August 1967, the FBI instructed its program "COINTELPRO" to "neutralize" what the FBI called "black nationalist hate groups" and other dissident groups.^[41]

A CORE delegation toured seven African countries in 1971. Innis met with several heads of state, includingKenya’sJomo Kenyatta,Tanzania’sJulius Nyerere,Liberia’sWilliam Tolbert andUganda'sIdi Amin, all of whom were gifted a life membership to CORE.^[42] In 1973, Innis became the first American to attend theOrganization of African Unity (OAU) as a delegate.

In 1981, to settle illegal fundraising allegations under Roy Innis, CORE paid a $35,000 fine.^[43]

CORE provides immigration services to immigrants in the preparation of petitions and applications to theUnited States Citizenship and Immigration Services. CORE also provides classes for immigrants in fields such asEnglish andAmerican Civics in its center inNevada.^[44]

Winning victories in northern cities in the 1940s and 1950s, CORE became active in the South with the lunch counter sit-ins of 1960. The following year CORE organized "Freedom Rides," sending black and white students south to disrupt segregated interstate bus service. Drawing much of its membership from college campuses, CORE kept up civil disobedience campaigns in the North as well as the South. They also organized activities in California, where they protested housing discrimination in San Francisco and Los Angeles, held a Western Region Conference in the Sacramento area, and launched an equal employment campaign at restaurants and stores throughout the state. In 1968, Seattle's chapter of CORE decided that, in order for it to function best in the community, it needed to be an all-black organization.

CORE has anAfrican branch based in Uganda, with Fiona Kobusingye as its director.^[45] Bringing attention to themalaria crisis is one of the organization's main activities. It has championed the use ofDDT to fight the disease, and it has partnered with a variety of conservative andlibertarianthink tanks in this effort.^[46] In 2007, CORE organized a 300-mile walk across Uganda to promote DDT-based interventions against malaria.^[47]

According to an interview given byJames Farmer in 1993, "CORE has no functioning chapters; it holds no conventions, no elections, no meetings, sets no policies, has no social programs and does no fund-raising. In my opinion, CORE is fraudulent."^[48]

CORE has been criticized by environmentalist groups for its efforts promoting DDT use against malaria in Africa. A 2005 article inMother Jones magazine accused the group of selling influence, writing that, "is better known among real civil rights groups for renting out its historic name to any corporation in need of a black front person. The group has taken money from the payday-lending industry, chemical giant (and original DDT manufacturer)Monsanto, and a reported $40,000 fromExxonMobil."^[49][50] In his book,Not A Conspiracy Theory: How Business Propaganda Hijacks Democracy, Donald Gutstein wrote that "In recent years CORE used its African-American facade to work with conservative groups to attack organizations like Greenpeace and undermine environmental regulation."^[46]

• Louisiana Diary, a 1964 documentary about CORE's 1963 voting registration drive in Louisiana.
• DePorres Club, an affiliate atCreighton University inOmaha
• New York Foundation
• Steelworkers and Shipyard Workers for Equality

• Meier, August; Rudwick, Elliott M. (1975).CORE: A Study in the Civil Rights Movement, 1942-1968. University of Illinois Press.ISBN 9780252005671.
• Farmer, James (1985).Lay Bare the Heart: An Autobiography of the Civil Rights Movement. Arbor House.ISBN 9780877956242.
• Frazier, Nishani (2017).Harambee City: Congress of Racial Equality in Cleveland and the Rise of Black Power Populism. University of Arkansas Press.ISBN 1682260186.

• Congress of Racial Equality Official website
• Harambee City: Archival site incorporating documents, maps, audio/visual materials related to CORE's work in black power and black economic development.
• Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) Actions 1942–1970: Maps and charts showing the geography of CORE activism. From the Mapping American Social Movements project at the University of Washington.
• Timeline of Congress of Racial Equality Actions 1942–1970: A timeline of more than 600 events reported in CORE publications andThe New York Times.
• Civil Rights Movement Archive
• "You Don't Have to Ride Jim Crow!" Web site for documentary of Journey of Reconciliation.
• Chris Mooney,Mother Jones, May/June 2005,"Black Gold?" - CORE,ExxonMobil
• The Frank J. Miranda Papers document Miranda's activities as CORE activist and one-time chair of the Boston CORE chapter. Located in the Archives and Special Collections of the Northeastern University Libraries in Boston, MA.
• A History of Harlem CORE
• CORE and Central Area Civil Rights Campaigns 1960-1968, multimedia resources on CORE activity in Seattle, Washington from theSeattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project.
• CORE Documents Online collection of original CORE documents ~ Civil Rights Movement Archive.
• A History of CORE in New York City
• Congress of Racial Equality Collected Records fromSwarthmore College Peace Collection

• Congress of Racial Equality, Seattle Chapter, records. 1954–2010. 5 cubic feet (12 boxes). At theLabor Archives of Washington State, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections.
• Image of three CORE hunger strikers, Jay Frank, Stanley Kohls, and Martin Goldsmith, sitting in a hallway at the Los Angeles Board of Education Building, 1963.Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections,Charles E. Young Research Library,University of California, Los Angeles.

• Congress of Racial Equality
• 1942 establishments in Illinois
• African Americans' rights organizations
• Anti-racist organizations in the United States
• Black conservatism in the United States
• Civil rights organizations in the United States
• COINTELPRO targets
• Nonviolence organizations based in the United States
• Organizations established in 1942

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