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Floyd Bixler McKissick was born March 9, 1922 in Asheville, North Carolina. He attended the public schools of Asheville, graduating from Stephens-Lee High School in 1939.

During his youth, he always had some source of income from his enterprising self-employment. He was at some time a shoe shine boy, a waiter, a bus boy, a yard man, a cleaner and an errand boy. He collected and sold a variety of objects - among them soft drinks and milk bottles, fruit jars and coat hangers.

In spite of poverty, McKissick was destined for a college education. He attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. During his sophomore year, he was initiated into Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

In December of 1941, shortly after Pearl Harbor, McKissick joined the army. Prior to duty in the European theater, he married his childhood sweetheart, Evelyn Williams. They have four children: Joycelyn, who works in the National CORE office, Andree, a junior at Howard University, Floyd Jr. and Charmaine, both of whom attend the public schools of New York.

Upon his return to civilian life, McKissick re-entered Morehouse College to complete his undergraduate studies. He subsequently enrolled in the Law School of North Carolina College. McKissick led the first group to picket the North Carolina State Legislature in the 40's demanding that the North Carolina College Law School be accredited. He and his classmates were the first to advocate the overthrow of trespass statutes that frustrated the direct action revolution. (A case he fought all the way to the Supreme Court resulted in the decision that voided hundreds of trespass convictions.)

He was among the first Black people to sue for admittance to the University of North Carolina Law School. The case was decided in his favor in June, 1951.

He thus became the first Black man to attend the University of North Carolina Law School. McKissick was admitted to the North Carolina bar in 1952 and the Unites States Supreme Court in 1955. He is also licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia and before the Federal Communications Commission, the United States Court of Appeals, the United States Customs Courts, as well as the United States Supreme Court. He is also experienced in handling bankruptcy and receivership cases. He opened his law office on the previously all white Main Street in Durham, North Carolina.

All four of his children were "firsts" in desegregating the Durham, North Carolina city schools. He handled a record number of civil rights cases, and his clients included businessmen, labor unions, Muslims and whites. During this time, he was directing the affairs of the Durham CORE and State Advisor of the NAACP Youth Groups.

At the 1963 CORE Convention, in  Dayton, Ohio, McKissick was elected National Chairman by acclamation.

In March, 1966, McKissick was appointed National Director of CORE by its Board of Directors succeeding James Farmer. Taking over the helm of the organization which was in serious financial trouble, McKissick was faced with the responsibility of reorganization from a business as well as philosophical point of view.

When James Meredith was shot down while walking across his home state of Mississippi, in June, 1966, McKissick made a call to continue the march "from the spot where James Meredith fell." Most national civil rights leaders joined the march.

The cry of "Black Power" became the marching chant. The term is not new, nor is the concept. The term was used as early as 1902 by W. E. B. DuBois and possibly by others before him.

[[image - black and white photograph of Floyd McKissick]]