Bayard Rustin: Unsung hero of the civil rights movement
Numerous celebrations this week will honor the legacy of fallen civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This year is especially poignant: It marks the 50th anniversary of King's "I Have A Dream" speech, which he delivered during the historic March on Washington in 1963. But I would like to spend a moment celebrating an unsung hero of the civil rights movement, Bayard Rustin.
Rustin was a true Renaissance man who shined as an educator, artist, activist, visionary and organizer. He was also pacifist who studied the nonviolent protest techniques of Gandhi. Many are not aware that Rustin was the genius behind organizing the March on Washington, one of the most ambitious and historical peace rallies of that era.
In February 1956, Rustin arrived in Alabama to assist King with the Montgomery Bus Boycott and found armed guards and guns in the young preacher's home. King was far from a pacifist. It was through Rustin's guidance that King eventually adopted his nonviolent philosophy of protest. For a while, Rustin served as a close adviser and would help mold King into the globally recognized symbol of nonviolence.
But if Rustin played such an important role, why do so few people know about him?
Rustin was an openly gay man, which didn't sit well with many leaders in the civil rights movement. (We have to remember that those were very different times.) Rustin was a man of great character but also an out gay man who proudly walked in his own truth. He refused to live in the closet, so King's advisers asked him to quietly step back from the spotlight.
I am an African-American gay man. Though I was older once the civil rights laws had been passed, in many areas of the South, where I grew up, it took awhile to change the culture and mindset of most folks, white and black. I remember separate rest rooms and even a "whites only" laundromat in my grandparents' small town.
I am also the product of a historically black college and have been an educator at two historically black institutions. Not even in environments committed to the black experience was I ever introduced to Rustin. I discovered him and his monumental contribution to the civil rights movement years into my tenure. As excited as I was to find this unknown black gay hero, I could not shake the anger I felt for being denied such an important role model. I still don't understand how a marginalized group can marginalize one of its own.
I studied film in graduate school and believe part of the responsibility of storytellers is to sometimes re-address history. Boycott is the only contemporary film I have seen that acknowledges Rustin and includes him in the historical narrative. Rustin's meeting with King plays out beautifully in the movie.
There is also a wonderful award-winning documentary, Brother Outsider, that chronicles Rustin's contributions and complex life. (You can find more information on the documentary at www.rustin.org.) The documentary's interviews, some featuring Rustin, show how challenging it was — and, sadly, still is — for a gay African American to negotiate and reconcile his or her ethnicity and s*xuality within the black community.
As I reflect on the "I Have A Dream" speech today, I feel there cannot be a more appropriate example of King's expectations that a man like Rustin can finally take his rightful place in history. A place Rustin earned regardless of his s*xuality, but because of the strength of his character and fearless commitment to peacefully serving his community.
Rustin was a true Renaissance man who shined as an educator, artist, activist, visionary and organizer. He was also pacifist who studied the nonviolent protest techniques of Gandhi. Many are not aware that Rustin was the genius behind organizing the March on Washington, one of the most ambitious and historical peace rallies of that era.
In February 1956, Rustin arrived in Alabama to assist King with the Montgomery Bus Boycott and found armed guards and guns in the young preacher's home. King was far from a pacifist. It was through Rustin's guidance that King eventually adopted his nonviolent philosophy of protest. For a while, Rustin served as a close adviser and would help mold King into the globally recognized symbol of nonviolence.
But if Rustin played such an important role, why do so few people know about him?
Rustin was an openly gay man, which didn't sit well with many leaders in the civil rights movement. (We have to remember that those were very different times.) Rustin was a man of great character but also an out gay man who proudly walked in his own truth. He refused to live in the closet, so King's advisers asked him to quietly step back from the spotlight.
I am an African-American gay man. Though I was older once the civil rights laws had been passed, in many areas of the South, where I grew up, it took awhile to change the culture and mindset of most folks, white and black. I remember separate rest rooms and even a "whites only" laundromat in my grandparents' small town.
I am also the product of a historically black college and have been an educator at two historically black institutions. Not even in environments committed to the black experience was I ever introduced to Rustin. I discovered him and his monumental contribution to the civil rights movement years into my tenure. As excited as I was to find this unknown black gay hero, I could not shake the anger I felt for being denied such an important role model. I still don't understand how a marginalized group can marginalize one of its own.
I studied film in graduate school and believe part of the responsibility of storytellers is to sometimes re-address history. Boycott is the only contemporary film I have seen that acknowledges Rustin and includes him in the historical narrative. Rustin's meeting with King plays out beautifully in the movie.
There is also a wonderful award-winning documentary, Brother Outsider, that chronicles Rustin's contributions and complex life. (You can find more information on the documentary at www.rustin.org.) The documentary's interviews, some featuring Rustin, show how challenging it was — and, sadly, still is — for a gay African American to negotiate and reconcile his or her ethnicity and s*xuality within the black community.
As I reflect on the "I Have A Dream" speech today, I feel there cannot be a more appropriate example of King's expectations that a man like Rustin can finally take his rightful place in history. A place Rustin earned regardless of his s*xuality, but because of the strength of his character and fearless commitment to peacefully serving his community.
Bayard Rustin
civil rights activist
Born: 3/17/1912
Birthplace: West Chester, Pa.
Rustin was one of the most influential civil rights activists of the 1950s and '60s, yet he maintained a low profile, reserving the spotlight for other prominent figures, including Martin Luther King, Jr. and A. Phillip Randolph. He was a firm believer in and practitioner of nonviolent forms of protest.
As a student at City College of New York in the late 1930s, Rustin was drawn to the Young Communist League. He organized for the group until 1941, when he turned his efforts to the Fellowship of Reconciliation, a nondenominational religious group that sought racial justice, and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), a nonviolent direct-action organization dedicated to improving race relations and ending racial discrimination in the U.S. Rustin and Randolph planned a 1941 march on Washington to protest discrimination in the defense industry. The protest was cancelled when President Roosevelt issued an executive order prohibiting such discrimination. Rustin also organized 1947's Journey of Reconciliation, in which blacks and whites rode together on public transportation. The journey served as a model for the freedom rides of the 1960s. He was imprisoned several times in the 1940s for his activism.
Rustin began his long association with King in the 1950s, serving as his adviser and in 1957 as a founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a major force organizing the civil rights movement. Perhaps Rustin's most prodigious achievement was the SCLC's 1963 March on Washington. He served as organizational coordinator for the massive gathering, at which about 250,000 people congregated at the Lincoln Memorial in support of civil rights legislation. It was at this march that King delivered his famous “I Have Dream” speech.
The next year Rustin organized the boycott of New York City schools to protest the system's racial injustices and reluctance to integrate the schools. More than 400,000 students participated. In 1964 Rustin went to work at the A. Phillip Randolph Institute, a civil and workers' rights organization. He served as its executive director and president from 1964 until his death in 1987.
Died: 8/24/1987
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