Joseph Rogers, age 16, of Lake Charles, La., for his question:

WHEN WERE THE NAACP AND CORE FOUNDED?

The National Asscociation for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded in 1909 by 60 black and white citizens. The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) was founded in 1942 by a civil rights leader named James Farmer.

The NAACP is a civil rights organization that works to end discrimination against blacks and other minority groups. It also works to prevent violence against blacks, unjust legal penalities and job discrimination.

Stated purpose of CORE was to create a society in which "race or creed will be neither an asset nor handicap." The organization protects the rights of black Americans and seeks equal job, housing and education opportunities for them.

The NAACP achieves many of its goals through legislative action. It played a leading role in obtaining passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957, which protects the right to vote, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which forbids discrimination in public places.

Earlier, an NAACP lawyer named Thurgood Marshall presented arguments to the Supreme Court in 1954 that brought a ruling that segregation of blacks in public schools is unconstitutional. Marshall later became a Supreme Court justice.