It is difficult to trace the history and growth of the Congress of Racial Equality, due to its constantly changing personnel and the overlapping of office files. For the following description of the organization's background, the processors have depended on information found in the records themselves, and have made use of two articles: “New Currents in the Civil Rights Movement,” by August Meier, reprinted from New Politics, summer, 1963, and “The Congress of Racial Equality and Its Strategy,” by Marvin Rich, reprinted from The Annals of the Academy of Political and Social Science, January, 1965.
The philosophy and aims of the Congress of Racial Equality were originally much affected by the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), a pacifist group for whom James Farmer was secretary of race relations in 1942. In that year, he sent a memorandum to various interested groups concerning the need for a non-violent direct action civil rights organization, With this need as its goal, the Congress of Racial Equality developed after University of Chicago students formed a permanent civil rights group as the result of their participation in the first successful race relations sit-in in Chicago. Similar sit-ins followed in other places, and similar groups were organized. CORE in the 1940s became a federation of chapters working on national and local projects. In the early 1950s, CORE chapters increased in the border states of the South, but it was not until the late 1950s that they became very active in the southern states themselves. During the 1940s and the early 1950s, there was no paid national staff, but by 1956 a permanent administrative staff had come into being, and communication between the local chapters increased.
In this early period the chapters were composed chiefly of middle class whites and Negroes, and emphasized peaceful direct methods to end discriminatory practices in public accommodations. In the North, the projects gradually broadened to include equal employment and fair housing, and the urban membership became more working class in character with a higher proportion of black members. In the South, most of the membership was working class and Negro from the beginning.
In the 1960s, CORE's membership and activities expanded greatly. From 1959 to 1964 its size and income increased tenfold, the income going from $60,000 to $900,000 and the affiliated chapters reaching the total number of 124. Although it expanded in size, the relationship of national CORE to the local chapters remained much the same, especially in the North, The local chapters were self-governing to a large extent; although most were affiliated with national CORE, Each chapter was responsible for its own program and finances, with guidance from the national office. Occasionally this autonomy led to problems, especially in public relations, so that national CORE found it necessary sometimes to expel chapters. In the early 1960s there was a notable attempt by national CORE to assert tighter control, but the basic independence of the chapters remained, with the attendant problems.
CORE attained national prominence in the early 1960s through projects conducted on a nation-wide basis. The first to make national headlines was the variety store sit-ins of 1960. Negotiations with Woolworth's and other chain stores eventually resulted in the opening up of their lunch counters to all races. The most famous of CORE's projects in these years were the Freedom Rides of 1961. The legal effect of these rides was to secure enforcement of the Interstate Commerce Commission rulings concerning discrimination. The Freedom Highways project of 1962 succeeded in opening the Howard Johnson and Holiday Inn chains to Negroes.
The next concentration of CORE in the South was on voter registration. Through its Task Force, CORE supplemented the efforts of such organizations as the Southern Regional Council's Voter Education Project, the Student Non-violent Co-ordinating Committee, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The Mississippi Summer Project of the Council of Federated Organizations (CORE, SNCC, and SCLC), in 1964, epitomized the widening scope of CORE's activities. This project encompassed voter registration, community centers, and freedom schools. CORE also conducted its own voter registration projects and directed self-help projects, such as the Fayette-Haywood Counties, Tennessee, tote-bag manufacturing project.
Thus, in the early 1960s the main focus of national CORE's activities shifted to the South. In the North, the projects remained smaller and less well-known until the Chicago summer project of 1964. The northern chapters were generally more stable financially, helping them to be more independent than those in the South.
Although these Records extend from the year 1941 to 1967, they most fully document the period from 1959 to 1964. The only materials relating to any extent to the early period of CORE appear in the files of the executive secretary and the National Action Council. The administration of Floyd McKissick, who replaced James Farmer as National Director in 1966, is not represented in this segment of the CORE files.
