James Farmer Jr.: Founder of CORE and Leader of the Freedom Rides

James Leonard Farmer Jr. (1920–1999) was a pioneering civil rights activist from Marshall, Texas. He entered Wiley College at 14 and studied under debate coach Melvin B. Tolson. In 1942, he co-founded the Congress of Racial Equality and served as its first national chairman. He then organized the 1961 Freedom Rides with nonviolent tactics to end segregation on interstate transportation. He married twice and raised two daughters before joining the history faculty at a Virginia university. His work earned him the Presidential Medal of Freedom and inspired scholarships and buildings named in his honor. His legacy lives on in programs and street renamings that bear his name. His belief in nonviolent protest still guides those fighting for equality today.

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