James farmer biography

American civil rights activist (–)

For other people named James Farmer, see James Farmer (disambiguation).

James Leonard Farmer Jr. (January 12, – July 9, ) was an American civil rights activist and leader in the Civil Rights Movement "who pushed for nonviolent protest to dismantle segregation, and served alongside Martin Luther King Jr." He was the initiator and organizer of the first Freedom Ride in , which eventually led to the desegregation of interstate transportation in the United States.

In , Farmer co-founded the Committee of Racial Equality in Chicago along with George Houser, James R. Robinson, Samuel E. Riley, Bernice Fisher, Homer Jack, and Joe Guinn. It was later called the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and was dedicated to ending racial segregation in the United States through nonviolence. Farmer served as the national chairman from to

By the s, Farmer was known as "one of the Big Four civil rights leaders in the s, together with King, NAACP chief Roy Wilkins and Urban League head Whitney Young."

Biography

Early life

James L. Farmer Jr. was born in Marshall, Texas, to James L. Farmer Sr. and Pearl Houston, who were both educators. His father was a professor at Wiley College, a historically black college, and a Methodist minister with a Ph.D. in theology from Boston University. His mother, a homemaker, was a graduate of Florida's Bethune-Cookman Institute and a former teacher.

When Farmer was a young boy, about three or four, he wanted a Coca-Cola when he was out in town with his mother. His mother had adamantly told him no, that he had to wait until they got home. Farmer wanted a Coke immediately and enviously watched another young boy go inside and buy one. His mother told him the other boy could buy the Coke at that store because he was white, but Farmer was a person of color and not allowed there. This defining, unjust m

January 12,  to July 9,

As co-founder of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), James Farmer was one of the major leaders of the African American freedom struggle. In a interview, Farmer said: “I don’t see any future for the nation without integration. Our lives are intertwined, our work is intertwined, our education is intertwined” (Smith, “Civil Rights Leader”). Farmer credited Martin Luther King and the Montgomery bus boycott with educating the public on nonviolent tactics: “No longer did we have to explain nonviolence to people. Thanks to Martin Luther King, it was a household word” (Farmer, ). 

Farmer was born on 12 January , in Marshall, Texas, where his father taught theology at all-black Wiley College. When Farmer was six months old, his family moved to Holly Springs, Mississippi. Throughout his life, Farmer recounted the story of his mother having to explain why she couldn’t buy him a soft drink at a drugstore, an experience he said inspired him at an early age to fight injustice. After graduating from Wiley College in , he enrolled in the Howard University School of Divinity, where he first encountered the teachings of the Indian independence leader, Mohandas K. Gandhi. Upon earning his BD in , he declined ordination as a Methodist minister because “I did not feel I could preach the gospel in a segregated church” (Shepard, “A Life on the Front Lines”). Farmer was granted conscientious objector status during World War II and became race relations secretary for the Fellowship of Reconciliation, a pacifist organization. 

A year later, in , Farmer co-founded CORE with an interracial group of University of Chicago students. In the s CORE pioneered the strategies of nonviolent direct action, including the tactics of sit-ins, jail-ins, and Freedom Rides later used in the civil rights movement during the s. After a brief stint

James L. Farmer Jr.

January 12, –July 9,

Civil rights leader James Farmer was born in Marshall, Texas, in He spent his childhood in Austin but returned to Marshall to attend Wiley College, where he joined the team of "great debaters" coached by legendary teacher Melvin B. Tolson.

Though Farmer had intended to become a Methodist minister, Tolson's influence—and segregation within the church—led him to activism.

In , Farmer organized the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in Chicago. A decade before the civil rights movement made headlines, CORE followed Gandhian principles of nonviolent direct action to fight racial discrimination.

In , CORE organized the Freedom Rides to desegregate bus travel. Farmer and twelve other activists, both Black and White, faced violence and jail time as they rode from Washington, DC, to New Orleans.

The Freedom Rides and the violence that erupted in response captured national attention. Black citizens across the nation joined the civil rights struggle, as did white activists in America and abroad. Within months, Attorney General Robert Kennedy issued an order banning segregation in interstate travel.

Farmer later described the Freedom Rides as his "proudest achievement." CORE had pioneered the tactics that eventually dismantled segregation in the South.

Farmer retired from CORE in and turned to government service and teaching. In , the year before his death, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. 

For More about James L. Farmer Jr.

The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at The University of Texas at Austin holds the collected papers of Farmer and his wife Lula. These rich archival collections detail Farmer's activities in CORE from the s to the s, as well as his time in government.

Farmer's father, James Farmer Sr., was a prominent theologian who taught at institutions across the South. From to , he taught at Samuel Huston College in Austin. Now Huston-

James Leonard Farmer, Jr. was born on January 12, in Marshall, Texas. Education was held in high regard in Farmer&#;s family. In , his father James L. Farmer, Sr. earned a P.h.D from Boston University, becoming one of only twenty-five African Americans who held Ph.D.&#;s at the time. After completing high school at the age of fourteen, Farmer enrolled in Wiley College where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Farmer was a Methodist pacifist and deeply influenced by Gandhi&#;s principles of nonviolent protest. In , he and a group of college students founded the Committee of Racial Equality in Chicago, Illinois. The organization was later renamed as the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). Farmer served as the national director of the organization from until CORE was a leading civil rights organization during the Civil Rights Movement. The interracial organization was known for its use of nonviolent, direct action tactics in confronting racial inequalities. In the early s, CORE also became recognized for its &#;Freedom Rides&#; throughout the South.

In October , Farmer came to Milwaukee to address two civil rights meetings and attend a Milwaukee United School Integration Committee (MUSIC) and Milwaukee chapter of CORE (MCORE)&#; sponsored school desegregation rally. While in Milwaukee, Farmer commented that the pattern of housing segregation in Milwaukee was one of the worst he had ever seen in the country. He also stated that &#;the actual exclusion of Negroes from other areas makes Milwaukee one of the most segregated cities in the country.&#;

In , Farmer accepted the post of Assistant Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare from President Richard Nixon. In , his memoir, Lay Bare the Heart: An Autobiography of the Civil Rights Movement, was published. Throughout the s and s, he taught history at Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Virginia. In , President Bill Clinton officially recognized James Farmer&#;s contributions to the Civil Rights Move