Obituary for Brooklyn CORE chairman Congressman Major Owens
Dublin Core
Title
Obituary for Brooklyn CORE chairman Congressman Major Owens
Subject
Brooklyn CORE members
Description
This is the photo used for the New York Times obituary of Brooklyn CORE chairman Major Owens who died on October 21, 2013. The photo is notable because in it he is speaking at an NAACP event.
The fact that Congressman Major Owens was ever a member of CORE or that his political career started in CORE was not mentioned in either the New York Times obituary or the Washington Post's (included below). It was not even mentioned in the New York Daily News or the New York Post coverage of his passing. None of these papers even mentioned that Major Owens was at one time an activist.
Major Owens was a revolutionary. Major Owens was in the streets. As the head of Brooklyn CORE's Rent Strike Committee (a group that included former first deputy mayor Stan Brezenoff), Owens was one of the most successful practitioners of non-violent direct action in New York City. In fact, it was the members of Brooklyn CORE who first suggested and insisted that he run for political office as a city councilman in 1965.
Also not mentioned in any of the coverage was the fact he died within a day of another Brooklyn CORE comrade, Jerome Bibuld, whose family set off CORE's more than decade long struggle against the NYC Board of Education with the chapter's 1962 sit-in at the BOE's office in Brooklyn. As of the date of this posting there has been no obituary for Jerome Bibuld written in any of the major New York City newspapers.
The fact that Congressman Major Owens was ever a member of CORE or that his political career started in CORE was not mentioned in either the New York Times obituary or the Washington Post's (included below). It was not even mentioned in the New York Daily News or the New York Post coverage of his passing. None of these papers even mentioned that Major Owens was at one time an activist.
Major Owens was a revolutionary. Major Owens was in the streets. As the head of Brooklyn CORE's Rent Strike Committee (a group that included former first deputy mayor Stan Brezenoff), Owens was one of the most successful practitioners of non-violent direct action in New York City. In fact, it was the members of Brooklyn CORE who first suggested and insisted that he run for political office as a city councilman in 1965.
Also not mentioned in any of the coverage was the fact he died within a day of another Brooklyn CORE comrade, Jerome Bibuld, whose family set off CORE's more than decade long struggle against the NYC Board of Education with the chapter's 1962 sit-in at the BOE's office in Brooklyn. As of the date of this posting there has been no obituary for Jerome Bibuld written in any of the major New York City newspapers.
Creator
Frank Polich
Source
New York Times
Publisher
New York Times
Rights
Frank Polich/Associated Press
Collection
Citation
Frank Polich, “Obituary for Brooklyn CORE chairman Congressman Major Owens,” corenyc.org, accessed April 25, 2024, http://corenyc.org/omeka/items/show/313.