Bob Adelman photographs of Brooklyn Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) demonstrations

Founded in Chicago in 1942, the Congress of Racial Equality (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 the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn and employing increasingly aggressive confrontational tactics.

Oliver H. Leeds (d. 1989) served for a time as chairman of the Brooklyn chapter of CORE, where he worked to fight against discriminatory hiring practices in the work place in New York City, helped organize "Operation Clean Sweep" which focused on addressing discriminatory sanitation policies in Bedford-Stuyvesant, and organized a student boycott of New York City public schools, among other activities. Oliver and his wife Marjorie, who was also a member of Brooklyn CORE, had two daughters, Maxine and Beverly.

Arnold (Arnie) Stanley Goldwag (1938-2008) attended Brooklyn College beginning in 1955 where he became involved in the activities of Brooklyn CORE. 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. Goldwag participated in a number of actions including the 1963 Board of Education sit-in. 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.

Bob Adelman (b. 1930) is a photojournalist, book producer, editor, author, and teacher. His photographs have appeared in both national and international magazines, have been shown in numerous exhibitions, and have been collected into photographic books. Many of his photographs documenting the civil rights movement in the United States have been published in the book, Mine Eyes Have Seen: Bearing Witness to the Struggle for Civil Rights. Adelman was born in Brooklyn in 1930. He studied photography under Alexey Brodovitch, earned a BA from Rutgers University, studied Law at Harvard University, and earned a MA in Philosophy from Columbia University. As of 2011, he lives in Miami, FL.