'Bridges to Human Dignity': Roy Innis, Conservative Black Power, and the Transformation of CORE, 1968-199

In the early 1960's the Congress of Racial Equality was a well known civil rights organization that spear-headed the Freedom Rides. By the 1980's the organization lost a significant amount of members and was funded by corporate donors and the GOP. This thesis explains the 30 year transformation of CORE under its black nationalist director, Roy Innis. I argue that Roy Innis held a conservative strain of black nationalism that aligned him with the Republican Party by the 1970's. Although Innis was extremely controversial in the black community, I emphasize that his actions in CORE were based on his ideology, not a need for money.