Founded in 1942, its stated mission is "to bring about equality for all people regardless of race, creed, sex, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion or ethnic background.

"[2] To combat discriminatory policies regarding interstate travel, CORE participated in Freedom Rides as college students boarded Greyhound Buses headed for the Deep South.

Despite CORE remaining an active part of the fight for change, some people have noted the lack of organization and functional leadership has led to a decline of participation in social justice.

[3][4] Bayard Rustin, while not a founding member of the organization, was, as Farmer and Houser later noted, "an uncle to CORE" and provided it with significant support.

[6] Indian writer and journalist Krishnalal Shridharani, who was known as a vibrant and theatrical public speaker, had been a protege of Gandhi—being jailed with him in the Salt March—and whose 1939 book War Without Violence heavily influenced the organization.

[7] During the period in which CORE was founded, Gandhi's leadership of the independence movement in India against British colonial rule was reaching its apogee.

CORE sought to apply the nonviolent anti-colonial tactics pioneered by Gandhi and his followers to successfully challenge racial segregation and racism in the United States through civil disobedience.

[8][4][9] In accordance with CORE's constitution and bylaws, in the early and mid-1960s, chapters were organized on a model similar to that of a democratic trade union, with monthly membership meetings, elected and usually unpaid officers, and numerous committees of volunteers.

In the South, CORE's nonviolent direct action campaigns opposed "Jim Crow" segregation and job discrimination, and fought for voting rights.

Initially, Morgan's legal team only included Spottswood Robinson III, but they were later joined by NAACP lawyers Thurgood Marshall and William H. Hastie.

[13] Contrarily, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Irene and asserted that the Virginia Legislature could not impose segregation among interstate bus travelers.

[16][15][17] In the early 1960's, James Farmer resumed his position as executive secretary of CORE, with the objective of replicating the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation, only this time under a new name - the Freedom Ride.

[18] The violence garnered national attention, sparking a summer of similar rides by CORE, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and other civil rights organizations and thousands of ordinary citizens.

According to CORE, "school segregation [was] a damaging bacteria, a psychological handicap, which [festered] a disease generating widespread unemployment and crime in Chicago".

Finally, Board President Claire Roddewig and Willis agreed to meet with CORE to negotiate integration, but no significant changes came to the schools.

Freedom Houses, transfer petitions, community rallies and meetings served to educate Chicagoans about segregation and provide them with tools to circumnavigate the neighborhood school policy.

[citation needed] In 1962, CORE set up a headquarters in Durham, North Carolina where upon arrival, local black women activists, including Sadie Sawyer Hughley, welcomed them into their homes.

[25] The following year, CORE along with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) helped organize the "Freedom Summer" campaign—aimed principally at ending the political disenfranchisement of African Americans in the Deep South.

As a group, the three organizations collected volunteers that taught in the schools and the curriculum now included black history, the philosophy of the civil rights movement.

In 1964, the group held a Stall-In, deliberately preventing the flow of traffic to the World Fair with the goal of drawing attention to racial discrimination, which was one of their main focuses.

Although this was a big moment in Kentucky history, the NAACP had initiated direct action protests in Louisville even before CORE entered the state.

Their inaugural sit-in on July 11, 1959, at the Varsity Village Restaurant near the University of Kentucky campus, attended by both black and white members, set a precedent for peaceful protest.

On September 4, 1966, Robert Lucas and fellow members of CORE led activists through Cicero, Illinois, to pressure the city of Chicago's white leaders into making solid commitments to open housing.

Shortly before the march, Chicago city officials, including Mayor Richard J. Daley, negotiated a Fair Housing agreement with Martin Luther King Jr., James Bevel, Al Raby and others in exchange for an end of demonstrations.

He was replaced by Black Power advocate Floyd McKissick until 1968, when California activist Wilfred T. Ussery served a brief term as national chairman.

Innis met with several heads of state, including Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta, Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere, Liberia’s William Tolbert and Uganda's Idi Amin, all of whom were gifted a life membership to CORE.

The following year CORE organized "Freedom Rides," sending black and white students south to disrupt segregated interstate bus service.

They also organized activities in California, where they protested housing discrimination in San Francisco and Los Angeles, held a Western Region Conference in the Sacramento area, and launched an equal employment campaign at restaurants and stores throughout the state.

[45] According to an interview given by James Farmer in 1993, "CORE has no functioning chapters; it holds no conventions, no elections, no meetings, sets no policies, has no social programs and does no fund-raising.

"[47][48] In his book, Not A Conspiracy Theory: How Business Propaganda Hijacks Democracy, Donald Gutstein wrote that "In recent years CORE used its African-American facade to work with conservative groups to attack organizations like Greenpeace and undermine environmental regulation.