Story
CORE and the Civil Rights Movement in Brooklyn
The Civil Rights Movement is typically associated with the Black Freedom Movement from the mid-1950s through the 1960s. However, the movement started much earlier than that. In the early twentieth century, African Americans organized groups such as the Urban League and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Though these groups were incredibly important, it was the experiences of African American men and women during World War II that reshaped how they viewed their opportunities and rights. The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Black Panthers were among the important civil rights organizations born from that experience. CORE played a major role in transforming what began as a movement for racial equality just in the military into a broader social movement for racial equality. Original Format
Sprague Building
CORE was a national interracial organization with a commitment to nonviolent direct action, which became a major force in the struggle to end discrimination in the United States from 1942 through the 1960s. While the group raised awareness of civil rights campaigns in the south to end segregation, CORE also made clear that the problem of discrimination was equally a northern problem. Chapters of CORE were established in New York including Bronx CORE, Harlem CORE, Lower East Side CORE, and Brooklyn CORE. Ministers from black churches and local Brooklynites also joined the effort.
1
129 Montague Street
The Ebinger Baking Company was founded in 1898 in Brooklyn and had a reputation for delicious pastries and cakes. Although the company was a nimportant part of neighborhood life, it failed to keep up with the diversifying Brooklyn's communities, refusing to hire African American, Jewish, and Latino workers. In 1962, Brooklyn CORE took action and encouraged Ebinger management to hire African American and Latino sales clerks, bakers, and drivers. After unsuccessful negotiations, Brooklyn CORE took its cause to the streets and began to picket outside off stores. When picketing and boycotting the stores failed to bring enough attention, members staged a sit-in in front of bakery delivery trucks, temporarily shutting down operations and forcing the company to re-think its hiring practices.
2
530 Nostrand Avenue
Brooklyn CORE's "Operation Cleansweep" was an effort to raise awareness about neighborhood discrimination: specifically, how the population of the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood greatly increased from the 1940s to the 1960s, but public services, such as garbage removal, were not changed in response to this growth. Bedford-Stuyvesant received garbage pick-up three times each week, while other less crowded neighborhoods, such as Bensonhurst, and Sheepshead Bay, received five days of garbage removal per week. For more than a decade, residents of Bedford-Stuyvesant complained to the DOS and the Mayor about garbage collection but received no help.
3
Brooklyn Borough Hall
Litter on Borough Hall Steps (not during Operation Cleansweep) So, Brooklyn CORE initiated "Operation Cleansweep" on September 15, 1962. Participants gathered garbage directly from the streets of Bedford-Stuyvesant and placed it on the steps of Brooklyn's Borough Hall. During the demonstration, police gave out court summonses and tickets or littering. Picketers outside Borough Hall distributed materials that highlighted the differences in city services in white neighborhoods and the same service in African-American neighborhoods.
4
110 Livingston Street
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, it was well-known across Brooklyn that schools in largely African American and Puerto Rican areas were inferior to those in white neighborhoods. Brooklyn CORE researched the difference in reading and math scores and compared the number and quality of text books in schools in white neighborhoods and schools in minority neighborhoods. The results showed a huge difference. Years of useless negotiations inspired CORE to consider school boycotts, picketing and sit-ins at the Board of Education. At the center of CORE"S education initiatives was the Bibuld family.
5
Public School 200
In 1962, the Bibuld children were assigned to PS 282, a school that their parents thought was below standards. They believed that PS 200, located in a mostly white neighborhood, was a more promising option or their children. however, the Board of Education denied their application. With support from CORE, Mr. and Mrs. Bibuld took their children to PS 200, despite the fact that the children had been refused admission. The Bibuld children were not allowed to officially enroll, but the principal of PS 200 did allow them to stay as guests. The Bibuld family and Brooklyn CORE called this action a school "sit-in." To support the Bibuld children, Brooklyn CORE also organized protests and sit-ins at the Board of Education. Nearly 300 CORE members participated in these activities.
6
Kings County Hospital
By 1963, the Civil Rights Movement had become a major fixture in American society. Protests and demonstrations in the name of racial equality were being held across the country. In New York, one of the greatest areas for discrimination was employment, and Brooklyn CORE took this issue seriously. The construction at Brooklyn's Downstate Medical Center in 1963 was supposed to be a major boost for Brooklyn's economy, providing years of employment for laborers and construction workers. Unfortunately, the majority of the jobs were given to unions that were "unavailable" to black workers.
7
Kings County Hospital
In response, CORE joined with the Black Ministers Coalition and other organizations to stage a major sit-in at the construction site. On July 15, 1963, fourteen of Brooklyn's African American ministers arrived at Downstate with over 75 parishioners to picket. In the weeks that followed, several hundred people, many of who were members of Brooklyn CORE, were arrested from picketing. Demonstrators made human chains in front of wrecking balls, lay down in front of bulldozers, and climbed on tops of cranes. The actions severely slowed work on the building and garnered significant public and media attention.
8
Brooklyn Bridge
As a major player in the Civil Rights Movement, Brooklyn CORE participated fully in the March on Washington, sending several busloads of demonstrators, as well as organizing a literal "march" from Brooklyn to the Lincoln Memorial. Brooklyn CORE also sent a small contingent to Washington on foot. The young group of CORE members walked 237 miles from Downtown Brooklyn to Washington, DC.
9