Goldwag, Arnold

Arnold (Arnie) Stanley Goldwag was born on January 18, 1938. A resident of Brooklyn, Goldwag attended Brooklyn College beginning in 1955 where he held leadership positions in a range of organizations, including social fraternities, student government, and student rights groups. He left Brooklyn College about 1961 without graduating, though he was readmitted in 1966 and graduated in 1968.

While still at Brooklyn College in the late 1950s, Goldwag became involved in the activities of the Brooklyn chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), starting with distributing fliers urging a boycott of Woolworth's. His role in the chapter expanded quickly, and in the years of Goldwag's active participation in CORE (1960-1965), he held leadership positions, principally as the Community Relations Director. In this position, Goldwag was responsible for press relations, publicity, and coordination with communities and demonstrators on the organization's direct actions. Over the course of his tenure in Brooklyn CORE, Goldwag participated in a number of actions, both locally, such as the 1963 Board of Education sit-in, and nationally, such as in Cambridge, Maryland, where Goldwag was involved in CORE's effort to desegregate public facilities. Goldwag's activism led to several arrests and a 13 month prison sentence in 1964; he served one month of the sentence in Rikers Island penitentiary.

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