James Farmer
An early Civil Rights leader, James Farmer helped found the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in 1942. Farmer was a follower of Mahatma Gandhi and practiced his teachings of non-violent protest. A supporter of racial integration in Civil Rights organizations, Farmer recruited both whites and blacks as CORE volunteers. Farmer and other CORE leaders organized the 1961 Freedom Rides.
Civil Rights Era
As the Director of CORE, Farmer and other CORE members organized the 1961 Freedom Rides. The Freedom Rides called for an interracial group of protestors to take two interstate buses throughout the South. The Rides' were conducted to test the federal government's willingness to enforce the United States Supreme Court's 1960 ruling in Boynton v. Virginia that racial segregation in public interstate travel facilities was unconstitutional. In Alabama, one of the buses was firebombed and many activists were beaten - acts that were nationally televised.
Nashville activists went to Alabama in an effort to continue the Freedom Rides. These Riders rode from Birmingham, Alabama to Jackson, Mississippi. After Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy asked Civil Rights leaders to postpone the Rides so everybody could "cool off," Farmer declined, responding: "We have been cooling off for 350 years, and if we cooled off any more, we'd be in a deep freeze." The new Riders were also met with violence and most were arrested. Though the Riders were prevented from reaching New Orleans by bus, a committee was formed to coordinate more rides. In late May 1961, the Interstate Commerce Commission officially banned segregation in all facilities under its control. During the Rides, Farmer spent 40 days in Mississippi jails.
During the Freedom Summer of 1964, three CORE members named James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner that worked with Farmer were killed by Ku Klux Klan members. Farmer left CORE in 1966 and, in 1998, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton.
Bibliography
Information for this biography was gathered from the following sources:
- Interview with James Farmer, conducted by Blackside, Inc. on November 1, 1985, for Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years (1954-1965). Washington University Libraries, Film and Media Archive, Henry Hampton Collection.