Bernice Fisher facts for kids

Elsie Bernice Fisher (December 8, 1916 – May 2, 1966) was an important American activist. She worked hard for civil rights and helped organize workers into unions. She was one of the people who started a group called the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in 1942 in Chicago, Illinois.

A Leader for Civil Rights

Bernice Fisher was a key figure in the fight for equal rights in America. She believed strongly in peaceful ways to make change happen.

Starting CORE

Fisher was part of a small group in Chicago that focused on improving race relations. This group was linked to the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), which promoted peace. This small group soon grew into the Committee on Racial Equality. They later changed its name to the Congress of Racial Equality, or CORE.

Some of the other people who helped start CORE with Bernice Fisher were James Farmer, George Houser, Homer A. Jack, James Russell Robinson, and Joe Guinn. Another important person, Bayard Rustin, advised the founders, even though he wasn't a founder himself.

George Houser said that Bernice Fisher was the person who made things happen for CORE in Chicago. She was the "nuts and bolts" person. She helped organize early activities in Chicago. These included efforts to end segregation in housing and to integrate restaurants and roller rinks.

The "Sit-in" Technique

A fellow activist, Ernest Calloway, called Bernice Fisher the "godmother of the restaurant 'sit-in' technique." A sit-in is a peaceful protest where people sit down in a public place and refuse to leave. This is done to protest unfair rules or laws.

CORE was one of the first groups to use sit-ins to challenge racial segregation. Segregation meant that Black people and white people were kept separate in public places like restaurants and stores. Fisher was very important in making the sit-in a key nonviolent tool in the Civil Rights Movement.

In 1942, CORE's founders, including Fisher, followed ideas from a book called War Without Violence by Krishnalal Shridharani. This book explained how to use peaceful protest methods, similar to those used by Mahatma Gandhi in India. Fisher even made a list of rules for people to follow during demonstrations, based on Gandhi's teachings.

Following these ideas, CORE's first actions focused on:

• Ending segregation in housing in Chicago.
• Changing laws that prevented people of different races from living in the same neighborhoods.
• Integrating restaurants and entertainment places in Chicago.

News of CORE's work spread quickly. Soon, other groups started using similar methods. For example, in 1943, students at Howard University in Washington D.C. started their own sit-in at a local restaurant.

Organizing Workers

Besides her civil rights work, Bernice Fisher also organized workers. She helped department store employees in Chicago. During World War II, workers faced tough conditions. Wages were low, and women were often not allowed to sit down at work. Fisher worked to improve these conditions.

Later, she moved to St. Louis to work with Harold J. Gibbons of the Teamsters union. She helped organize the St. Louis chapter of CORE. This chapter became very important and helped keep the national CORE organization strong in the late 1940s and 1950s. They continued to develop and improve the nonviolent protest methods started in Chicago.

Later Life and Legacy

In her later years, Bernice Fisher was active with the Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Brooklyn, New York. She helped lead their Social Action Committee.

Fisher lived in New York, St. Louis, and Chicago during her adult life. She was involved in many peaceful civil rights protests and efforts to end discrimination in labor unions. She worked with several unions, including the United Federation of Teachers. She also served on the board of the NAACP in Brooklyn.

Bernice Fisher is buried at The Evergreens Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.

Education

Bernice Fisher graduated from the University of Chicago in 1943. She studied Divinity there. Before that, she attended Colgate Rochester Divinity School and the Rochester Collegiate Center. She finished high school at Monroe High School in Rochester in 1934.

See also

• Civil Rights Movement
• Timeline of the civil rights movement
• Greensboro sit-ins

Books About Bernice Fisher

• Victory without Violence, The First Ten Years Of The St. Louis Committee Of Racial Equality (CORE), 1947-1957 by Mary Kimbrough and Margaret W. Dagen. This book is dedicated to Bernice Fisher.
• Lay Bare The Heart: An Autobiography of The Civil Rights Movement by James Farmer. This book talks about how CORE was formed and mentions Bernice Fisher's role.
• Frazier, Nishani (2017). Harambee City: Congress of Racial Equality in Cleveland and the Rise of Black Power Populism. University of Arkansas Press. ISBN: 1682260186.

|