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How Did James Farmer Influence The Civil Rights Movement

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James Farmer was born on January 12, 1920 in Marshall, Texas, and died from diabetes at the age of seventy-nine on July 9, 1999 in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He became one of the most well known activists during the civil rights movement, being one of the first leaders to support the practice of nonviolent protest. In 1960, Farmer became the national director of the Congress of Racial Equality, a “Big Four” civil rights organizations that lead protests such as the Freedom Ride, March on Washington, and Freedom Summer. In the year 1961, he organized the Freedom Rides, a protest of interstate bus terminals, which later outlawed segregation on public transportation nationwide, James Farmer was determined to end racial segregation in the United States and create more opportunities for African Americans.

Farmer played a major role in shaping the civil rights movement. For example, he was the leader of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), which lead several nonviolent protests against segregation and racial discrimination during the 1950’s and 1960’s. The Freedom Ride was one of the protest lead by CORE, in which James Farmer had been purely responsible for organizing. During the Freedom Ride, both African Americans and white protesters journeyed into the South and tried to use …show more content…

When out with his mother, he had asked her if he could get a soda, his mother told him to wait to get the drink at their house. James being only three years old did not understand that the reason he could not go into the store to buy his soda was due to his skin color. He then watched as a white boy walked in a purchased the same soda he wanted. Because James was African American he could not buy the soda in the store, this was the first of many experiences James would have dealing with segregation. Another interesting fact about James Farmer is that he attended college at the age of fourteen years

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