Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)

National Prominence

Although it had some early successes integrating public facilities in the early 1940s, it was not until 1947 that CORE began to have a national impact. To test compliance of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling against segregation in interstate travel, CORE sent sixteen of its members on the “Journey of Reconciliation” through the South. As a result, seven of its members were arrested, and some were required to serve on a chain gang for violating interstate travel laws.

In 1955, CORE lent the Montgomery bus boycott its philosophical commitment to nonviolent direct action. The bus boycott served as a turning point, because prior to the bus boycott, CORE had confined itself to the North, and its membership was small. With the Montgomery boycott, CORE turned its attention to the Deep South, and its membership began to change. Poorer and less-educated African Americans came to make up the majority of the organization's new membership. As the Black rank-and-file membership increased, so did the Black leadership, yet Whites still remained in prominent positions. Despite shifts in leadership and the ever-present tension [Page 329]in methods and strategy, CORE was still staunchly committed to nonviolent direct action.

CORE's reputation as an important civil rights organization grew following the 1960 Greensboro, North Carolina, lunch counter “sit-ins.” Although the four individuals who initially took part in the sit-ins were not CORE members, CORE provided guidance and support. Further, some of its leaders were influential in the creation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), in 1960.

In May 1961, CORE organized the famous “Freedom Rides”—bus trips throughout the South that challenged segregation in interstate travel. CORE consciously modeled the Freedom Rides on the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation. The Freedom Rides consisted of an interracial group of volunteers who boarded two buses in Washington, D.C. The volunteers sat together, and when the bus stopped, the group used all terminal facilities regardless of racial restrictions. CORE anticipated reactionary violence once the riders entered the Deep South. Gradually, they made their way southward, ignoring signs reading “Colored” or “White” over toilets, lunch counters, and so on. First assaulted in South Carolina, the riders were later met by a violent White mob in Alabama. As a result, CORE ended its participation on May 17 but provided logistical and philosophical support for riders who continued under the auspices of SNCC. At the end of 1962, the Interstate Commerce Commission banned segregation and discrimination in interstate travel. To this end, CORE was transformed into a major civil rights organization that acquired the resources to establish a presence in many southern states.

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