In his autobiography, Lay Bare the Heart (1985), James Farmer identified the term "Big Six" as having originated with the founding of the Council for United Civil Rights Leadership. He did not include A. Philip Randolph in his list of the "Big Six", instead listing Dorothy Height, president of the National Council of Negro Women as the sixth member of the group. He also noted that the press often referred to the group as the "Big Four", excluding Height and John Lewis, which he attributed to sexism and age bias, respectively.[4]
Patrick Henry Bass, journalist and historian of the March on Washington, described the rise of these leaders to celebrity: "Increasingly, these six powerful men lived in two worlds: the political and the personal, one white, in which they were still strangers but becoming increasingly familiar with its insider/outsider rules; the other, black, where they were treated as extended members of the family."[5]
James Farmer (January 12, 1920 – July 9, 1999) founded the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in 1942, a pacifist organization dedicated to achieving racial harmony and equality through nonviolent protest and passive resistance, and was chosen to be its first national director in 1953. When Farmer's followers once asked, "When are you going to fight back?" Farmer's response was, "We are fighting back, we're only using new weapons." Farmer's teachings allowed sit-ins and the Freedom Rides to occur, attempts to battle segregation in restaurants and on transportation. These attempts allowed CORE to gain national traction, as people throughout the country were inspired to be volunteers for the organization to advocate for civil rights. Farmer later considered this surge of followers as "his proudest achievement".[3]
Farmer was not present for the 1963 March on Washington since he was incarcerated in Louisiana for "disturbing the peace" after attempts to arrange protests. He launched a failed Congressional bid in 1968 and later faced criticism for his decision to be employed by President Richard Nixon, as Assistant Secretary of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, a job which Farmer claimed was an opportunity for African-Americans to directly influence federal policies. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998 for his efforts during the Civil Rights Movement, shortly before his death in 1999.[3]
A. Philip Randolph (April 15, 1889 – May 16, 1979) was a socialist in the labor movement and the Civil Rights Movement. In 1925, he organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. This was the first serious effort to form a labor union for the employees of the Pullman Company, which was a major employer of African Americans. During World War II, Randolph was instrumental in the March on Washington Movement, which did not actually lead to a March on Washington but did result in the integration of war industries and ultimately the armed forces. He lived until 90 years old.
Roy Wilkins (August 30, 1901 – September 8, 1981) was a prominent civil rights activist from the 1930s to the 1970s. In 1955, he was named executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He had an excellent reputation as a spokesperson for the Civil Rights Movement. He participated in the March on Washington (1963), the Selma to Montgomery marches (1965), and the March Against Fear (1966).
Whitney Young (July 31, 1921 – March 11, 1971) spent most of his career working to end employment discrimination in the South, and he was inspired to do so after his experience fighting in World War II and personally becoming a victim of this discrimination. In 1961, Young was elected the National Urban League's executive director, a position he held until his death in 1971. As executive director, he turned the National Urban League from a relatively passive civil rights organization into one that aggressively fought for justice, and he did so by introducing new educational policies and programs that did not estrange the white members of the league.[3]
^Bass, Patrick Henry (2002). Like a Mighty Stream: The March on Washington, August 28, 1963. Philadelphia: Running Press. ISBN0-7624-1292-5. p. 85.
^Euchner, Charles C. (2010). Nobody turn me around: a people's history of the 1963 march on Washington. Boston: Beacon Press. ISBN978-0-8070-0059-5. OCLC441152928.
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