James Farmer – 1920–1999

Farmer led the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and introduced into the civil rights movement such tactics as nonviolent sit-ins (to force the integration of segregated restaurants and other places) and Freedom Rides (to force the integration of bus stations in the South). These tactics came to symbolize the civil rights movement during its height in the early 1960s and helped bring about passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.