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Arnie Goldwag Brooklyn Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) collection

Call Number

ARC.002

Dates

1943-2007, inclusive
; 1961-1971, bulk

Creator

Congress of Racial Equality. Brooklyn Chapter
End the Draft Committee
Committee for Peace Organization
Congress of Racial Equality
Goldwag, Arnold

Extent

13.75 Linear Feet
in 13 manuscript boxes, 5 record cartons, and 2 artifact boxes

Language of Materials

English .

Abstract

The Arnie Goldwag Brooklyn Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) collection consists principally of the subject files concerning 1960s civil rights activism maintained by Arnie Goldwag, an officer of Brooklyn CORE during the first half of the 1960s. These files include correspondence, newsletters, event announcements (e.g., fliers), directions for demonstrators, photographs, press releases, clippings, and other documents related to many of the actions conducted by Brooklyn CORE, particularly for the period 1961-1965. Actions represented in the collection include those protesting discrimination in employment, housing, schools, and the like, including the controversial initiative to block traffic in connection with the opening of the 1964 World's Fair. The collection also includes reminiscences by Goldwag and other CORE members looking back from the 1990s and 2000s. In addition to Brooklyn CORE-related material, the collection includes material related to other 1960s activist groups, including those involved with civil rights, Vietnam War opposition, and draft resistance, among others.

Biographical / Historical

Arnold (Arnie) Stanley Goldwag was born on January 18, 1938. A resident of Brooklyn, Goldwag attended Brooklyn College beginning in 1955 where he held leadership positions in a range of organizations, including social fraternities, student government, and student rights groups. He left Brooklyn College about 1961 without graduating, though he was readmitted in 1966 and graduated in 1968.

While still at Brooklyn College in the late 1950s, Goldwag became involved in the activities of the Brooklyn chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), starting with distributing fliers urging a boycott of Woolworth's. His role in the chapter expanded quickly, and in the years of Goldwag's active participation in CORE (1960-1965), he held leadership positions, principally as the Community Relations Director. In this position, Goldwag was responsible for press relations, publicity, and coordination with communities and demonstrators on the organization's direct actions. Over the course of his tenure in Brooklyn CORE, Goldwag participated in a number of actions, both locally, such as the 1963 Board of Education sit-in, and nationally, such as in Cambridge, Maryland, where Goldwag was involved in CORE's effort to desegregate public facilities. Goldwag's activism led to several arrests and a 13 month prison sentence in 1964; he served one month of the sentence in Rikers Island penitentiary.

Founded in Chicago in 1942, CORE was centered on the principles of interracial, nonviolent direct action. Local chapters that affiliated with national CORE had a great deal of autonomy of action. Within this structure, Brooklyn CORE emerged in the early 1960s as one of the most radical CORE chapters, focusing on the living conditions of poor African-Americans in Bedford-Stuyvesant and employing increasingly aggressive confrontational tactics. It was during this surging radical activism in Brooklyn CORE that Goldwag was a central figure in the chapter and in its many civil rights actions. Indeed, Goldwag was a principal creator of one of Brooklyn CORE's most controversial actions, the Stall-In at the opening of the 1964 World's Fair. This action, which called for the deliberate blockage of automobile traffic headed to the Fair in order to call attention to discrimination against African-Americans, led to the suspension of the chapter by CORE.

Subsequent to his days with CORE, which ended in 1965, and his 1968 graduation from Brooklyn College, Goldwag went to work for the New York City Human Resources Administration as a contract manager for home care programs. In the 1990s he went on leave to work for his union (Social Service Employees Union Local 371) as Health and Safety Coordinator. In the 1990s and 2000s, Goldwag was actively engaged in ensuring that the civil rights movement was remembered, and its continued struggle recognized. He participated in a number of conferences and oral histories, and opened his files to researchers. Arnie Goldwag died on August 9, 2008.

Arrangement

The collection is organized in two series: Subject Files and Books.

Scope and Contents

The Arnie Goldwag Brooklyn Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) collection consists principally of the subject files concerning 1960s civil rights activism maintained by Arnie Goldwag, an officer of Brooklyn CORE during the first half of the 1960s. These files include correspondence, newsletters, event announcements (e.g., fliers), directions for demonstrators, photographs, press releases, clippings, and other documents related to many of the actions conducted by Brooklyn CORE, particularly for the period 1961-1965. Actions represented in the collection include those protesting discrimination in employment, housing, local government services, schools, and the like. The collection includes actions, such as the Stall-In at the 1964 World's Fair, aimed at calling attention to discrimination practiced in Brooklyn and in the metropolitan New York City area, as well as participation in nationally-oriented initiatives, such as the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

While the collection documents Brooklyn CORE's actions as an organization, it also documents the intersection of activism with the life of an important activist, Arnie Goldwag. The collection includes documentation of Goldwag's student years at Brooklyn College, his military draft status, arrest records, correspondence written to him while in Rikers Island prison, his reflections on his CORE activism, and other material. In addition, personal correspondence to Goldwag from other former CORE activists often include reflections on their activism.

The collection holds little or no material on CORE from the years after 1965, and little material generally from the 1970s and 1980s. Nevertheless, the collection holds material from the 1980s-2000s that concern reunions, memorials, reminiscences, research papers, and other reflections on CORE, the civil rights struggle, and its continuing legacy.

In addition to Brooklyn CORE, there is material in the collection from other national and New York organizations concerned with civil rights actions, including the Student NonViolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and Harlem Parents Committee, among others. There is also material from the mid to late 1960s concerning anti-Vietnam War and anti-draft matters, including newsletters from the Brooklyn-based organizations End the Draft and Committee for Peace Organization. The collection also includes photocopies of New York City Police Department reports concerning the activities of CORE and other organizations from the 1960s and early 1970s.

Finally, the collection includes a selection of books and pamphlets from Arnie Goldwag's library and lapel pins and buttons from election campaigns, anti-war demonstrations, union activities, etc. collected by Goldwag.

Subjects

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open to researchers without restriction.

Conditions Governing Use

The collection includes a wide range of materials, most of which CBH does not hold reproduction rights to. Permission to publish or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.

Preferred Citation

Identification of item, date (if known); Arnie Goldwag Brooklyn Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) collection, ARC.002, Box and Folder number; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The bulk of the collection was donated to the Brooklyn Historical Society in 2009 by Gilda Goldwag, the wife of the late Arnie Goldwag. A second donation of some additional correspondence was made by Ms. Goldwag in 2010.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

If digital surrogates exist, they should be used in place of the originals whenever possible.

Related Materials

At Center for Brooklyn History:

Center for Brooklyn History holds fifteen slides made by Oliver Lewis of photographs credited to Bob Adelman which concern CORE actions circa 1962, including protests at the Board of Education (accession V1989.22).

The CBH library also holds some books about CORE, other than those in the Goldwag collection itself. These can be found through the online BPL catalog, searching on the term "Congress of Racial Equality."

CBH holds Dr. Brian Purnell's Ph.D. thesis: A movement grows in Brooklyn: the Brooklyn chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the northern civil rights movement during the early 1960's, as well as various oral histories and transcripts conducted by Dr. Purnell during his research.

In addition, CBH holds materials donated by Rioghan Kirchner, another important leader of Brooklyn CORE. There are photos, news clippings, some case files from housing investigations, and materials that pertain to FOCUS, a Brooklyn-based housing advocacy organization Kirchner helped found after her time in Brooklyn CORE. And CBH holds nearly the entire collection (1969-1983) of Black News, the major publication of The East, a black nationalist organization.

Columbia University's Oral History Office holds three tapes of interviews with Arnie Goldwag. According to the webpage of oral historian Sheila B. Williams, interviews that she conducted in 1999 and 2001 with Goldwag "discuss [the] founding [and] functions of Brooklyn CORE. Last tape also discusses the Route 40 campaign [and] his friendship with Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture), including Stokely's last days [and] death upon returning to New York." Ms. Williams's oral histories also include one from 2000 with Elaine Bibuld, a Brooklyn CORE activist who was at the center of certain of the actions prominent in BHS's Goldwag collection.

Wisconsin Historical Society holds two archival boxes of Brooklyn CORE records collected by Oliver and Marjorie Leeds, officers of the chapter during the 1960s (Register of the Congress of Racial Equality. Brooklyn Chapter: Records, 1959-1978; Mss 947.) An online finding aid is available and can be found through WHS's catalog.

Wisconsin Historical Society is the principal repository holding national CORE's papers. These are also available on microform, which is available at the Schomburg. Schomburg also holds other material related to CORE. Again, use search term "Congress of Racial Equality."

Existence and Location of Copies

Portions of this collection have been digitized and are available on our digital collections.

Collection processed by

Larry Weimer

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2024-07-30 19:42:13 +0000.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: English

Processing Information

The collection was processed by Larry Weimer in January 2011. The collection combines two accessions: 2009.007 and 2010.004.

Repository

Brooklyn Historical Society
Center for Brooklyn History
128 Pierrepont Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201