Bernice Fisher
| Bernice Fisher | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Elsie Bernice Fisher December 8, 1916 Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania |
| Died | May 2, 1966 (aged 49) New York City, New York |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Civil Rights Activist |
Elsie Bernice Fisher (December 8, 1916 – May 2, 1966), known as Bernice Fisher, was a civil rights activist and union organizer. She was among the co-founders of the Congress of Racial Equality in 1942 in Chicago, Illinois.
As an activist Fisher headed a cell with the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) in Chicago to concentrate on race relations. This small cell provided the people for the beginnings of the Committee of Racial Equality (CORE). James Farmer was among the co-founders. The founding members of CORE were James L. Farmer, Jr., Bernice Fisher, George Houser, Homer A. Jack, James Russell Robinson, and Joe Guinn.
Bayard Rustin, while not a founder of CORE, was a campus traveler for the Fellowship of Reconciliation; he worked with and advised the founders. Houser reported that James Farmer, in addition to his Chicago activities, traveled the country with FOR and spoke about his national vision for CORE. He said that Fisher was the nuts and bolts person for CORE in Chicago and later St. Louis. Houser mentioned pre-CORE and initial activities in Chicago of Jim Farmer, Jim Robinson, Bernice Fisher, Homer Jack and Joe Guinn that included the Fellowship house (an early effort at desegregating housing), Jack Spratt restaurant sit-in, and White City roller-rink among others. He spoke highly of Bernice Fisher and of her importance to the development of CORE.
Fisher has been called the "godmother of the restaurant 'sit-in' technique" by fellow activist and union organizer Ernest Calloway, who worked closely with Fisher in St. Louis and admired her.
Fisher worked tirelessly to establish the Committee On Racial Equality. Soon the founders, including Fisher, changed the name to Congress of Racial Equality CORE. This group introduced the sit-in as a tactic in challenging racial segregation in public accommodations. Fisher was instrumental in establishing the sit-in as a nonviolent technique in the Civil Rights Movement. In 1942 CORE's six founders followed the nonviolent organizing techniques outlined in Krishnalal Shridharani's War Without Violence. This was Shridharani's doctoral thesis at Columbia, and within the year had become a national bestseller. Shridharani, an intimate of Gandhi, who had been jailed in the Salt March, had codified Gandhi's techniques. Gandhi had not wanted his followers to codify his teachings, as he had wanted people to come to India, study intensively and experience the movement first-hand. However, the British were barring Gandhi's followers from India, and travel to India was beyond the means of most of his followers. Fisher made a list of rules to follow at demonstrations, based on Gandhi's teachings, that was distributed as a handbill at some demonstrations.
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