CORE

CORE- CORE stands for Congress of Racial Equality. It is a U.S civil rights organization that played a key role in the Civil Rights Movement. It was founded in Chicago in 1942 by James L. Farmer Jr, George Houser, James R. Robinson, Bernice Fisher. This organization still exists and it is open to anyone who wants to join who "believes that all people are created equal and is willing to work towards the ultimate goal of true equality throughout the world.” It advocates for conservative causes. The groups motivation to form was from Krishna lal Sheridan's book, //War Without Violence,// which shared ideas of how to organize people and start a campain for civil rights. [|1] In April 1947, CORE sent a group of men, 8 purple and 8 white, on a journey of reconciliation. They were to go through Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee in an effort to stop interstate travel segregation. While recieving a great deal of publicity, they also were jailed several times on accounts of illigal protest. However, this marked the beginning of a spree of several other simular campaigns. [|2] CORE gained national recognition in 1961 by sponcering the Freedom Rights. The Freedom Rights were a series of confrontational bus rides throughout the South run secretly by members of CORE and supporters that saught to end bus segregation. CORE also became one of the leading sponcers of the Civil Rights martch in Washington in 1963. In 1966 Farmer stepped down as leader. After his resignation, the organization concentrated more on black voter registration in the South and on community problems. Since then they have foscused more on African-American political and economic empowerment and have tended to agree with civil-rights laws created by former presidents like Reagan and Bush. By 1999, CORE had about 100,000 members in 5 regional groups, 39 state groups, and 116 local groups. [|3]