TALLAHASSEE, FL (#WTXLDigital) - A movement that started with a group of Tallahassee students in the 1960s still lives on today.
Founded in 1942, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) became one of the leading activist organizations in the early years of the American Civil Rights Movement.
On February 1, 1960, four African American students in Greensboro, North Carolina walked into a Woolworth’s and sat down at the lunch counter. They refused to leave after they were denied service. The next day, they returned with more students.
CORE then sent out a call for sympathy “sit-ins” and within a week, Tallahassee had become one of the leading organizations of the civil rights movement in the early 1960s.
While on a summer vacation to Miami, Florida A&M students Patricia and Priscilla Stephens joined CORE and participated in lunch counter sit-ins that they had been trained to do. When the sisters returned to Florida A&M University, they immediately began to recruit other students to establish a new chapter.
The first Tallahassee CORE meeting was held in October 1959. Tallahassee’s first sit in was held on February 13,1960 at Woolworth’s on Monroe Street. Ten black students eight from FAMU and two from high school sat down at the lunch counter and ordered food. They were denied service but remained at the counter quietly reading their schoolbooks for a couple of hours. While many harassed them, one white man congratulated them, informing them that they were doing a great job.
One week later, the CORE organization decided to take the sit in movement further. With seventeen black CORE members and a few whites went back to Woolworth’s to try it again. The CORE members remained calm. All of them were arrested for disturbing the peace.
Founded in 1942, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) became one of the leading activist organizations in the early years of the American Civil Rights Movement.
The Dream Defenders organization correlates within the CORE organization. Dream Defenders is an organization founded in Tallahassee. The organization confronts systemic inequality by building our collective power and fighting for justice.
The Civil Rights exhibit shares knowledge that can open up different perspectives and insights on racial inequality. The exhibit runs through April 5, 2015 at the Museum of Florida History.
