Rustin, Bayard (1912–1987)

Bayard Rustin, an openly gay man, worked closely with Martin Luther King, Jr. during the U.S. civil rights movement during the 1950s and 1960s. Born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, he was raised as a Quaker. Rustin moved to New York City in 1937 to participate in the American Friends Service Committee's activist training project. Rustin was involved in numerous labor and racial equality protests before working with King. He participated in a Journey of Reconciliation, which tested enforcement of the 1946 Irene Morgan legal decision outlawing racial discrimination on inter-states in the United States. This protest became a model for the 1960s Freedom Rides that advocated an end to oppressive U.S. segregation laws.

Throughout his civil rights activism, Rustin endured intense homophobia in the form of verbal and physical violence, arrests, and being fired from leadership positions. Despite being pushed to the background of the movement for being openly gay, Rustin continued to organize and lead massive civil protests. He worked as a strategist for King, beginning with the bus boycotts in Montgomery in 1956, in the effort to end legislated segregation policies. He also organized marches and prayer pilgrimages in the South that demanded freedom from Jim Crow laws. Rustin was jailed over 20 times during his protest organizing.

Rustin encouraged King to incorporate Ghandi's nonviolence philosophy more completely into his life. Prior to Rustin's influence, King kept guns inside his home and armed guards posted outside it. Rustin served as the primary organizer for the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. This march was a pivotal event in the civil rights movement, drawing 250,000 people who demonstrated peacefully for freedom and jobs for black Americans. His activism continued in 1964 when he led a school boycott in New York City that demanded an end to de facto segregation.

Rustin authored several writings, including From Protest to Politics: The Future of the Civil Rights Movement, and We Challenged Jim Crow. He remained steadfast in his belief in nonviolent tactics to achieve racial justice for black Americans. This was evident in his famous debate with Malcolm X on WRAI radio station in New York in November of 1960. In his later years, Rustin continued to advocate for freedom and economic justice on an international [Page 1248]level, traveling to South Africa, Haiti, and many other countries.