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Bayard Rustin (1912 - 1987)
-- Bayard Rustin Bayard Rustin was an instrumental force in the civil rights movement through much of the twentieth century, perhaps more so than even Dr. Martin Luther King or Malcolm X. Yet until recently he has been relatively ignored by historians of the movement and rarely mentioned in annals of black history because, in addition to being an ardent worker for racial equality, Rustin was also a passionate advocate for gay rights and was he himself gay, and very openly so. Rustin was born 17 March and raised by his grandmother in West Chester, Pennsylvania, a predominantly Quaker community whose pacifist and humanitarian ideals greatly influenced him. A gifted student, Rustin attended Wilberforce University, Cheyney State College, and the City College of New York, though he never received a degree. A gifted singer, he earned his tuition not only through odd jobs but also by performing with Josh White's Carolinians. After training with the American Friends Service Committee, Rustin moved to New York, where he enrolled at the City College and joined the Young Communist League in 1937, only to see the group reverse its stance on racial segregation in the Armed Forces after America's entry into World War II. Disillusioned, he left the League and began a life-long association with A. Philip Randolph, president of the nation's first black trade union, The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, eventually becoming involved in Randolph's efforts to end racial employment discrimination by defense contractors and racial segregation in the Armed Forces. He also took a position as Race Relations Secretary for the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), touring the country to conduct seminars and workshops to improve relations between blacks and whites. Later, he served as the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)'s first field secretary, became a democratic socialist under Norman Thomas, and was appointed by Franklin Roosevelt in 1942 to help protect property in California belonging to interned Japanese-Americans. But when Rustin refused to register for the draft or even to perform alternative civilian service, he was sentenced to and served three years in prison, where he protested racial segregation of prisoners and abuse of black prisoners by white guards. In 1945, Bayard Rustin traveled to India, where he met and studied the passive resistance methods and philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi. He organized FOR's Free India Committee, and used Gandhi's methods to protest British colonial rule in Africa, for which he was arrested several times. Later, he organized the Committee to Support South African Resistance. In 1947, Rustin helped organize the first "freedom ride," Journey of Reconciliation, a protest against the racial segregation of interstate buses and trains in the South. Rustin and other participants were harassed and beaten, and Rustin himself was arrested in North Carolina and served nearly a month on a chain gang. A serialized account of Rustin's experiences in the New York Post, detailing the harsh and brutal treatment of prisoners, led to the abolition of chain gangs in North Carolina. FOR dismissed Bayard Rustin in 1953 after he was arrested on a "morals charge" involving sex with another man, one of many instances wherein Rustin encountered anti-gay prejudice from groups and individuals who claimed to be fighting prejudice. Throughout his life Rustin would find himself pushed into the background of the many movements and committees he was involved in, if not out of the picture, because of his openness about his sexuality. Years later, both South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond and North Carolina radio journalist (and future Senator) Jesse Helms would condemn the March on Washington on the grounds that it had been organized by a "known homosexual." Rustin's association with Martin Luther King began in 1956 when he was asked by A. Philip Randolph to assist Dr. King in his Bus Boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, where his previous experience in peaceful protests proved invaluable. While history textbooks often mention that King learned his activist techniques from the life of Gandhi, they usually fail to mention that he learned them by way of Bayard Rustin. Indeed, when Rustin first met him, King kept guns in his house and armed guards at his door. It was only under Rustin's influence that King embraced nonviolent tactics and strategies. During his association with Dr. King, Rustin was instrumental in founding the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and organizing the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom in 1957 and The National Youth Marches for Integrated Schools in 1958 and 1959. He was also the Deputy Director and chief organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where he was joined by Josephine Baker and thousands of others as King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. In 1964 Rustin helped organize the A. Philip Randolph Institute (APRI), which works to increase voter registration among minorities and improve relations between labor unions and minorities, and for which he served as Co-Chairman. He also helped organize the Recruitment and Training Program, which works for increased opportunities for minorities in the construction industry, and organized the 1964 boycott of New York City schools to protest racial segregation of students . Throughout his involvement in the civil rights movement, Rustin steadfastly rejected the violently militancy advocated by others, and insisted that because they were all laborers of one kind or other, African-Americans had a vested interest in working with the labor movement to promote fair and equitable labor practices. He was also one of the first to recognize that poverty was a major source of the country's ills, and that its real dirty secret was not racism, but classism. The 1970s and 80s saw Bayard Rustin
more involved in the plight of refugees, particularly the Vietnamese "boat
people," Cambodian refugees on the Thai border, and Haitian refugees
attempting to relocate to the US. He also delivered a lecture, "Strategies
for Freedom: The Changing Patterns of Black Protest," at Columbia University,
gave interviews and talks on how anti-gay prejudice had influenced his
attempts to help various rights movements, testified for New York City's
gay rights bill, served as an observer during elections in numerous
Third World and Eastern European countries, and formed a committee to secure
increased support in the US for anti-apartheid movements in South Africa.
It was also during this time that he met his life partner, Walter Naegle.
In 1987, during a human rights expedition to Haiti, Rustin became ill and was misdiagnosed as having an intestinal parasite. Upon his return to the US, his symptoms had worsened and he was admitted to a hospital, where he was found to have a ruptured appendix. Three days after surgery, Rustin died from cardiac arrest on 24 August. Looking back on his life, one wonders how much further society might have progressed had more people been willing to listen to his wise advice, rather than let their own bigotries blind them to reason. Links: Articles by and about Bayard Rustin Quakerism Biography of Bayard Rustin The Bayard Rustin Papers - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The Art of Creative Trouble Making - Bayard Rustin Bayard Rustin Biography - A. Philip Randolph Institiute Spartacus Bio of Bayard Rustin Bayard Rustin and the Rise and Decline of the Black Protest Movement CORE Biography of Bayard Rustin Human Rights Campaign: Bayard Rustin Civil Rights Leader: Bayard Rustin
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