The biography of George Houser identifies him as the Secretary of National Projects of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR). As the first Director of the Congress Of Racial Equality (CORE), Houser has been responsible for setting up interracial workshops in various cities to acquaint people with the nonviolent direct action approach to the problem of racial tension, using discussion and experimentation. Houser was the organizer of the Journey of Reconciliation in the Upper South in the spring of 1947, through which segregation policies on interstate buses and trains were tested under the Supreme Court Irene Morgan decision. Houser was a founder of the American Committee on Africa, a U.S. organization promoting interest in the struggle for freedom in Africa. Houser is the author of "Erasing the Color Line" and "Nonviolent Revolution in South Africa" and a co-author of the pamphlet, "We Challenged Jim Crow"; he has contributed articles to magazines about peace, race relations, labor, prisons, and South Africa. He traveled in Europe in 1951 and to Africa in May-October, 1954, visiting French West and Equatorial Africa, Liberia, the Gold Coast, Nigeria, the Belgian Congo, Angola, and South Africa; he consulted with such people as Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Prime Minister of the Gold Coast; Dr. Nnandi Azikiwe, leader of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons; Manilal Gandhi, son of Mahatma Gandhi; and Chief Albert J. Luthuli of the African National Congress in South Africa.
Used by permission of George M. Houser.
Collection: George M. Houser (Africa collection), Michigan State University Libraries Special Collections