CORE

Congress of Racial Equality

A national organization with affiliated local groups working to abolish racial discrimination by direct, nonviolent methods

38 Park Row

New York 38, New York

COrtlandt 7-0408

ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Roger N. Baldwin

Algernon D. Black

Allan Knight Chalmers

Grenville Clark

Earl B. Dickerson

Harold Gibbons

E. Stanley Jones

Martin Luther King

Will Maslow

A. J. Muste

A. Philip Randolph

Ira DeA. Reid

Jackie Robinson

Arnold M. Rose

Lillian Smith

Howard Thurman

Goodwin Watson

Jerry Wurf

Charles S. Zimmerman

OFFICERS

Charles R. Oldham, chairman

Henry Hodge, vice chairman

Anna Holden, Secretary

Lula A. Farmer, treasurer

James Peck, CORElator editor

regional representatives

Walter Hayes

George M. Houser

Herbert Kelman

Frank Robinson

Rev. Charles Smith

Earl Walter

STAFF

Gordon R. Carey, field secretary

James T. McCain, field secretary

Marvin Rich, community relations director

James R. Robinson, executive secretary

January 20, 1960

Dear Miss Stephens:

Several hundred Negroes and a sprinkling of whites marched to the Greenville (South Carolina) Airport on Emancipation Day, January 1, 1960, to protest the policy of asking Negroes to leave the waiting room and go to the "Colored Lounge." Led by the Rev. J. S. Hall, Jr., Greenville CORE Chairman, and by Field Secretary James T. McCain, this nonviolent protest is a first step toward the assertion of self-respect and dignity by South Carolinians.

The Airport Demonstration took place only because of CORE's activity. It may mark a new era in the Deep South where, up to now, so few persons -- Negro or white -- have dared to make any frontal attack on the evil of segregation.

The protest took place in spite of threats from the Ku Klux Klan. CORE leaders combined bravery with imagination, and energy with self-sacrifice. This is the spirit which can change the entire pattern of race relations in America.

CORE was able to stimulate this and many other actions across the country because many of its members have given generously during the fiscal year begun last June 1st. Unfortunately, you are not one of these -- in spite of your help in previous years. For our ongoing program. we need your donation now.

As I wrote you in mid-September, CORE is facing a desperate financial crisis. In spite of the support of many of our members, this crisis is continuing because several thousand members who have given in the past have not yet done so this year.

Won't you send your substantial aid now -- in time to relieve our staff from constant financial worry for Brotherhood Month? For your use, I enclose a post-paid reply envelope.

Sincerely yours, 

[Signature] Charles R. Oldham

National Chairman 

P. S. I should tell you that our executive staff is demonstrating its willingness to make sacrifices: all four are accepting a voluntary salary reduction of 2% for 1960.