The Congress of Racial Equality Scholarship, Education and Defense Fund (CORE SEDF) was
formed in mid-1962 as a membership organization to raise funds for and to manage several of
CORE's civil rights activities. The new organization was carefully planned to be eligible
for tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code to encourage
contributors and foundations to donate more generously to SEDF than they did to CORE, which
did not qualify for tax-exempt status.
From its initiation, the aims of SEDF were clearly stated: to provide scholarships,
fellowships, and other financial aid to minority students, to those handicapped by
discrimination, including white civil rights activists who were expelled or who lost
financial aid because of their civil rights work, and to those whose studies involved civil
rights; to inform citizens about their voting rights: to organize black communities and
train black leaders; and to provide legal and financial assistance for persons involved in
civil rights work and for blacks lacking adequate legal representation. The first executive
director of SEDF was Marvin Rich, who also continued as head of Community Relations for CORE
until April 1, 1965. Rich retained the position of executive director until he was elected
president of SEDFRE in 1969. He was succeeded by Ronnie Moore, former director of SEDFRE's
leadership development program.
The first project undertaken by SEDF was the implementation of the scholarship program,
named in honor of Eleanor Roosevelt, who had agreed to serve as president of SEDF before her
death in 1962. The program was one of the most successful of those conducted by SEDF;
hundreds of college and law students received aid from the fund, which grew to $105,000 by
1971.
A second SEDF project was provision of legal assistance by the legal department, headed by
Carl Rachlin, general counsel of CORE. A substantial portion of SEDF's budget funded the
legal programs and supported CORE's southern projects, a role which expanded greatly both in
the South and in the North by 1965. As the number of CORE field personnel in the South
increased during 1965, so did the staff of the legal department. Law students were hired to
do research for important cases, and SEDF retained attorneys and law firms throughout the
South to provide legal defense as necessary. Among these retained to work for SEDF were the
firms of McKissick and Burt in North Carolina; Collins, Douglas, and Elie in New Orleans;
and attorneys Murphy Bell in Baton Rouge and John Due in northern Florida. Carl Rachlin also
handled cases for SEDF, particularly law suits in New York and New Jersey concerning
discrimination, civil rights demonstrations, housing, welfare rights, and similar issues.
However, by the mid-1960s, even as CORE's program expanded, many contributors became
disenchanted with the increased urban violence and the use of direct-action tactics, and as
a result, income dropped. Although CORE continued to support its southern projects,
retrenchment was necessary. The financial problems exacerbated the growing ideological split
between the more black nationalist-oriented CORE, and SEDF, which remained committed to
interracialism. In mid-1966, CORE SEDF eliminated the "CORE" from its name, which was
changed to the Scholarship, Education and Defense Fund for Racial Equality (SEDFRE).
Although SEDFRE continued to pay for CORE's legal programs in the South, the split was
finalized in November 1966 when Carl Rachlin resigned as CORE legal counsel and joined
SEDFRE's legal department full-time. Rachlin remained as head of the legal department until
1969, when he returned to private practice and the department was discontinued.
A third, and major, project of SEDF/SEDFRE was the leadership development program, formed
in 1965 under the direction of Ronnie Moore to instruct minority individuals about their
rights as citizens. The program conducted its work through series of local workshops,
conferences, and training sessions, designed to help local citizens develop leadership
abilities and skills and enter into politics. Other projects included forming economic and
housing cooperatives. By 1971 the leadership development program had grown to a size that
required the formation of several subdivisions: leadership training, housing, economic
development, and technical assistance, with a total project budget of over $500,000.
Throughout its history, the Scholarship, Education and Defense Fund for Racial Equality
evolved from an organization run by predominantly white liberals concerned with securing
funds for its civil rights work to an interracial group dedicated to social change through
grass-roots organizing and leadership development. Much of SEDFRE's effectiveness stemmed
from its tax-exempt status, which enabled it to raise the funds needed to make a significant
contribution to the civil rights movement.
