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Black people paved the way for the lives we have today. From Martin Luther King Jr to Rosa Parks to Malcolm X and many more names you have heard before. However, those are only a few of the many people who made an impact here in America. For this article, I want to focus on an activist named Bayard Rustin.
Bayard Rustin was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, on March 17, 1912, and passed away on August 24 1887 in Manhattan, New York. While his time alive, he was a human rights activist, and he was mostly known for his work during the Civil Rights Movement. He helped organize many protests during the Civil Rights Movement, one of them being the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. He was also one of Dr. Martin Luther King’s closest advisors. He believed that in order to get our voices heard, it would be best to approach it with a strategy that was based on nonviolence.
Besides organizing protests, Rustin was active in an organization named the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), which is a U.S. civil rights organization founded in 1942. Its purpose was to fight racial inequality through nonviolent acts. He also helped create the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He played a huge role in fighting back against segregation, and yet he is rarely talked about. Why is that?
Early in his career, he was arrested, which led to his outing to the public. But Rustin wasnt ashamed about coming out; if anything, that gave him more motivation. His sexuality then forced him to take a seat in the back of the Civil Rights Movement. He didn’t want his sexuality to cloud over the movement and its significance.
Even after the civil rights movement ahd enede dhe didnt stop speaking up against hate. In the 1980s, he had become a part of the LGBTQ+ movement and spoke up about AIDs eduaction. He was even able to give a testimony on behalf of the New York State Gay Rights Bill.
Though he wasn’t given a lot of attention, he still made a high impact on American society today and the black and LGBTQ+ communities. If you want to learn more about Bayward Rustin amke sure you check out the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Sources used:
Smithsonian. “Bayard Rustin.” National Museum of African American History and Culture, 2012, nmaahc.si.edu/bayard-rustin.
Stanford University. “Rustin, Bayard | the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute.” Kinginstitute.stanford.edu, kinginstitute.stanford.edu/rustin-bayard.