1942 March 9

Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) Founded

 

The civil rights group the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) was founded in Chicago on this day as an offshoot of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (founded on November 11, 1915).

CORE conducted a sit-in challenging a racially segregated restaurant in Chicago on May 8, 1943, which along with sit-ins by African-American students at Howard University in Washington, DC, 0n April 17, 1943 and April 22, 1944 were the first known civil rights sit ins in American history.

CORE is most famous for organizing the 1961 Freedom Rides that began on May 4, 1961. Its most important leader was James Farmer, who organized and led the Freedom Rides. After his departure from the organization in 1966, CORE lost its influence as a civil rights organization.

Read about the history of CORE: August Meier and Elliott Rudwick, CORE: A Study in the Civil Rights Movement, 1942–1968 (1973)

Read about the historic CORE-sponsored 1961 Freedom Ride: Raymond Arsenault, Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice (2006)

Watch a 1965 interview with CORE’s leader, James Farmer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXVcUZZQZRA

Learn about the first freedom ride, the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation here

Visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture here

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Read Farmer’s autobiography: James Farmer, Lay Bare the Heart: An Autobiography of the Civil Rights Movement (1985)

Visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture here

Find a Day

Go
Abortion Rights ACLU african-americans Alice Paul anti-communism Anti-Communist Hysteria Birth Control Brown v. Board of Education Censorship CIA Civil Rights Civil Rights Act of 1964 Cold War Espionage Act FBI First Amendment Fourteenth Amendment freedom of speech Free Speech Gay Rights Hate Speech homosexuality Hoover, J. Edgar HUAC Japanese American Internment King, Dr. Martin Luther Ku Klux Klan Labor Unions Lesbian and Gay Rights Loyalty Oaths McCarthy, Sen. Joe New York Times Obscenity Police Misconduct Same-Sex Marriage Separation of Church and State Sex Discrimination Smith Act Spying Spying on Americans Vietnam War Voting Rights Voting Rights Act of 1965 War on Terror Watergate White House Women's Rights Women's Suffrage World War I World War II Relocation Camps

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Tell Us What You Think

We want to hear your comments, criticisms and suggestions!