photo of Bronx CORE chairman Herb Callender
Dublin Core
Title
photo of Bronx CORE chairman Herb Callender
Subject
Bronx CORE members
Description
This is a 1964 photo of Bronx CORE chairman Herb Callender.
A union leader in a Ford auto plant, he was one of the original 1961 Freedom Riders. The case that resulted from his particpation, Herbert E. Callender v. Florida, went all the way to the Supreme Court. He was successfully defended by CORE attorneys Carl Rachlin and Floyd McKissick.
He is recognized as the leader who put Bronx CORE on the map with the 1963 White Castle demonstrations, a campaign that exposed the existence of southern style violence and neo-nazi members in NYC.
Along with Malcolm X and rent strike leader Jesse Gray, he was denounced in the press by Police Commissioner Murphy. It later came out that Callender had been targeted by the Bureau of Special Services (BOSS/NYPD) who had planted an undercover police agent, Ray Wood, in his chapter.
After placing the Mayor Wagner of New York City under citizen's arrest with Wood, Callender was briefly sentenced to Bellevue for mental observation. Unperturbed, he became one of the three leaders of the 1964 Stall In campaign.
He eventually became a field secretary and then the national organization director for CORE, the third highest ranking position at the time. He left just before Roy Innis became the national director but was part of the unsuccessful effort in the mid-1970's along with James Farmer to take CORE back from Innis. In between he received a degree from Cornell University.
Callender later changed his name to Makaza Kumanyika which according to his son means "a cold wind blows for Black people."
A union leader in a Ford auto plant, he was one of the original 1961 Freedom Riders. The case that resulted from his particpation, Herbert E. Callender v. Florida, went all the way to the Supreme Court. He was successfully defended by CORE attorneys Carl Rachlin and Floyd McKissick.
He is recognized as the leader who put Bronx CORE on the map with the 1963 White Castle demonstrations, a campaign that exposed the existence of southern style violence and neo-nazi members in NYC.
Along with Malcolm X and rent strike leader Jesse Gray, he was denounced in the press by Police Commissioner Murphy. It later came out that Callender had been targeted by the Bureau of Special Services (BOSS/NYPD) who had planted an undercover police agent, Ray Wood, in his chapter.
After placing the Mayor Wagner of New York City under citizen's arrest with Wood, Callender was briefly sentenced to Bellevue for mental observation. Unperturbed, he became one of the three leaders of the 1964 Stall In campaign.
He eventually became a field secretary and then the national organization director for CORE, the third highest ranking position at the time. He left just before Roy Innis became the national director but was part of the unsuccessful effort in the mid-1970's along with James Farmer to take CORE back from Innis. In between he received a degree from Cornell University.
Callender later changed his name to Makaza Kumanyika which according to his son means "a cold wind blows for Black people."
Source
LIFE magazine- Apr 24, 1964
Publisher
Life Magazine
Format
image, .tiff
Type
image
Coverage
new york city, 1964
Collection
Citation
“photo of Bronx CORE chairman Herb Callender,” corenyc.org, accessed October 9, 2024, http://corenyc.org/omeka/items/show/3.