2009 photo of New York CORE member Sheila Michaels

2009 photo of New York CORE member Sheila Michaels

Harlem CORE members

This is a photo of Sheila Michaels, one of the earliest members of New York CORE once the chapter (known as New York CORE) moved up to 125th street. Like Susan Brownmiller and Susan Wells (among others) she was involved in some of the early housing protests with Gladys Harrington.
An active member, she was with the chapter up into 1963 when she went down to Mississippi to work on the Freedom Project. Like Brownmiller, she became a member of SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) and stayed for an extended period on the Project in Mississippi.
Ms. Michaels has been my contact for the White members of New York CORE. She created an oral history archive of CORE and SNCC activists who live in NYC and within the tri-state area, an incredible resource for anyone doing this work. She was able to help me find the names of early members that would not have been documented in it were not for her archival work.
Ms. Michaels, again like Susan Brownmiller, is considered an early pioneer of the feminist movement, as well. She's credited with helping to bring the term 'Ms.' into mainstream usage. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ms.)

2009

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new york city, 2009