James L. Farmer, Jr.

Civil Rights leader James Leonard Farmer, Jr., son of Pearl (Houston) and Dr. James l. Farmer, Sr., was born in Marshall where his father was a professor at Wiley College. The family moved to Atlanta, Georgia, and Austin, Texas, before returning to Marshall in 1930. James Farmer, Jr., entered Wiley College at age 14 and joined the famous debate team led by Melvin Tolson and was challenged with discussions about inequality. In 1938, Farmer entered the Ministerial Program of Howard University, Washington, D.C., under the direction of Howard Thurman, a student of Mahatma Ghandi and nonviolent philosophy techniques to achieve social change. Inspired by Thurman and Tolson, Farmer turned his attention to civil rights and moved to Chicago in 1941.

In 1942, Farmer co-founded the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), which trained civil rights leaders in Ghandi-inspired nonviolent civil disobedience tactics to protest racial discrimination. Under his leadership, CORE organized the first sit-ins of restaurants in Chicago. In 1961, CORE organized the freedom rides into the Deep South, led by Farmer. CORE, other organizations for equality and James Farmer, Jr., were instrumental in the passage of the Civil Rights Act on July 2, 1964.

In 1968, Farmer ran unsuccessfully on the Liberal party ticket, backed by the Republican party, and was appointed Assistant Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare in 1969. Farmer also worked as a union organizer and lecturer, as well as a professor at Amherst College and Mary Washington College. In 1998, President Clinton awarded Farmer the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Farmer died on July 9, 1999.

(2016)