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Roy Innis
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Roy Innis
Roy Emile Alfredo Innis (June 6, 1934 – January 8, 2017) was an American activist and politician. He was National Chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) from 1968 until his death.
One of his sons, Niger Roy Innis, serves as National Spokesman of the Congress of Racial Equality.
Innis was born in Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands in 1934. In 1947, Innis moved with his mother from the U.S. Virgin Islands to New York City, where he graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1952. At age 16, Innis joined the U.S. Army, and at age 18 he received an honorable discharge. He entered a four-year program in chemistry at the City College of New York. He subsequently held positions as a research chemist at Vick Chemical Company and Montefiore Hospital.
Innis joined CORE's Harlem chapter in 1963. In 1964 he was elected chairman of the chapter's education committee and advocated community-controlled education and black empowerment. In 1965, he was elected Chairman of Harlem CORE, after which he campaigned for the establishment of an independent Board of Education for Harlem.
In early 1967, Innis was appointed the first resident fellow at the Metropolitan Applied Research Center (MARC), headed by Dr. Kenneth Clark. In the summer of 1967, he was elected Second National Vice-chairman of CORE.
Additionally that year, Innis became a founding member of the Harlem Commonwealth Council (HCC), a community action agency that has aimed to develop financial and human capital within upper Manhattan and Bronx communities. The HCC was established under the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty campaign.
From 1968 to 1972, Innis co-published the Manhattan Tribune newspaper with journalist and Robert Kennedy presidential campaign advisor, William Haddad. The periodical aimed to cover news concerning the Upper West Side and Harlem from both a black and white American perspective. Haddad was quoted, “Roy, for example, thinks I’m a soft, fuzzy white liberal and we disagree 80 percent of the time, but we have to live together in this little inner city, and the only solution lies in an honest and uninhibited dialogue.”
Innis was selected National Chairman of CORE in 1968 a contentious convention meeting. Innis initially headed the organization in a strong campaign of black nationalism. White CORE activists, according to James Peck, were removed from CORE in 1965, as part of a purge of whites from the movement then under the control of Innis. Under Innis' leadership, CORE supported the presidential candidacy of Richard Nixon in 1972. This was the beginning of a sharp rightward turn in the organization.
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Roy Innis
Roy Emile Alfredo Innis (June 6, 1934 – January 8, 2017) was an American activist and politician. He was National Chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) from 1968 until his death.
One of his sons, Niger Roy Innis, serves as National Spokesman of the Congress of Racial Equality.
Innis was born in Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands in 1934. In 1947, Innis moved with his mother from the U.S. Virgin Islands to New York City, where he graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1952. At age 16, Innis joined the U.S. Army, and at age 18 he received an honorable discharge. He entered a four-year program in chemistry at the City College of New York. He subsequently held positions as a research chemist at Vick Chemical Company and Montefiore Hospital.
Innis joined CORE's Harlem chapter in 1963. In 1964 he was elected chairman of the chapter's education committee and advocated community-controlled education and black empowerment. In 1965, he was elected Chairman of Harlem CORE, after which he campaigned for the establishment of an independent Board of Education for Harlem.
In early 1967, Innis was appointed the first resident fellow at the Metropolitan Applied Research Center (MARC), headed by Dr. Kenneth Clark. In the summer of 1967, he was elected Second National Vice-chairman of CORE.
Additionally that year, Innis became a founding member of the Harlem Commonwealth Council (HCC), a community action agency that has aimed to develop financial and human capital within upper Manhattan and Bronx communities. The HCC was established under the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty campaign.
From 1968 to 1972, Innis co-published the Manhattan Tribune newspaper with journalist and Robert Kennedy presidential campaign advisor, William Haddad. The periodical aimed to cover news concerning the Upper West Side and Harlem from both a black and white American perspective. Haddad was quoted, “Roy, for example, thinks I’m a soft, fuzzy white liberal and we disagree 80 percent of the time, but we have to live together in this little inner city, and the only solution lies in an honest and uninhibited dialogue.”
Innis was selected National Chairman of CORE in 1968 a contentious convention meeting. Innis initially headed the organization in a strong campaign of black nationalism. White CORE activists, according to James Peck, were removed from CORE in 1965, as part of a purge of whites from the movement then under the control of Innis. Under Innis' leadership, CORE supported the presidential candidacy of Richard Nixon in 1972. This was the beginning of a sharp rightward turn in the organization.
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