Biography
Igal Roodenko was involved in leftist politics and pacifism, spending time during World War II in a camp for conscientious objectors. He and conscientious objectors in six other federal prisons began a hunger strike on May 11, 1946, to draw attention to the plight of war resistors. Following the war, he became involved in the Civil Rights movement. In 1947, Roodenko participated in the Journey of Reconciliation, organized by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), to test the Supreme Court's ruling in the 1946 Irene Morgan case as it applied to public transportation in the South. After being arrested in Chapel Hill, Roodenko and fellow activists lost their court appeal and spent thirty days working on a segregated chain gang in North Carolina.
With Bayard Rustin and others, Roodenko rode in CORE's 1947 Journey of Reconciliation testing bus desegregation in the upper South. Arrested at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, he was convicted, and after an unsuccessful appeal served thirty days on a segregated North Carolina chain gang.