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August 21, 2015

Longtime Civil Rights Activist Rev. George Houser Dies at 99 
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And longtime civil rights activist Reverend George Houser has died. The
white Methodist minister helped found the Congress of Racial Equality,
alongside civil rights icons James Farmer and Bayard Rustin. He also
helped organize the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation, in which eight
African-American and eight white activists rode interstate buses through
15 cities throughout the South. The action prefigured the Freedom Rides
of 1961, which galvanized the civil rights movement. Earlier in life,
Houser also served a year in federal prison for opposing the draft in
World War II. He died in his home in California on Wednesday at the age
of 99.

 

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