Bayard Rustin
Bayard Rustin | |
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Gay Rights Movement, Neoconservatism | |
Partner(s) | Davis Platt (1940s) Walter Naegle (1977–1987; Rustin's death) |
Awards | Presidential Medal of Freedom |
This article is part of a series on |
Socialism in the United States |
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Bayard Rustin (
Rustin worked in 1941 with
Rustin was a
Later in life, while still devoted to securing workers' rights, Rustin joined other union leaders in aligning with ideological neoconservatism,[4][5] earning posthumous praise from President Ronald Reagan.[6] On November 20, 2013, President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Rustin the Presidential Medal of Freedom.[7]
Early life and education
Rustin was born in 1912 in
One of the first documented realizations Rustin had of his sexuality was when he mentioned to his grandmother that he preferred to spend time with males rather than females. She responded, "I suppose that's what you need to do".[12]
In 1932, Rustin entered
After completing an activist training program conducted by the
Rustin was an accomplished tenor vocalist, an asset that earned him admission to both Wilberforce University and Cheyney State Teachers College with music scholarships.[17] In 1939, he was in the chorus of the short-lived Broadway musical John Henry that starred Paul Robeson. Blues singer Josh White was also a cast member and later invited Rustin to join his gospel and vocal harmony group Josh White and the Carolinians, with whom he made several recordings. With this opportunity, Rustin became a regular performer at the Café Society nightclub in Greenwich Village, widening his social and intellectual contacts.[18] A few albums on Fellowship Records featuring his singing, such as Bayard Rustin Sings a Program of Spirituals, were produced from the 1950s through the 1970s.
Evolving affiliations
At the direction of the Soviet Union, the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and its members, including Rustin at that time, were active in the 1930s in supporting civil rights for African Americans.[19] The CPUSA, at the time following Stalin's "theory of nationalism", favored the creation of a separate nation for African Americans to be located in the American Southeast where the greatest proportion of the black population was concentrated.[20]
In 1941, after Germany invaded the Soviet Union, Communist International ordered the CPUSA to abandon civil rights work and focus on supporting U.S. entry into World War II.[citation needed][21] Disillusioned, Rustin began working with members of the Socialist Party of Norman Thomas, particularly A. Philip Randolph, the head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.
Another of Rustin's socialist mentors was the pacifist
Rustin had an “infinite capacity for compassion,” according to Daniel Levinson. Having an interest in social change from a young age, he would work with the Democratic Party and be influenced by their ideals. However, this changes later in his life when he begins to align with conservative views. In 1944, while imprisoned in North Carolina, Rustin displayed nonviolent tactics. He would allow himself to get beaten repeatedly by a white inmate until he gave up, as Rustin was unnerved. Rustin defied segregation during that time and practiced his tactic while incarcerated.[24]
Randolph's decision as leader of the organizers to cancel the march was made against Rustin's advice.[22] The armed forces, in which Black troops typically had white commanding officers,[25] remained racially segregated until 1948, when President Harry S. Truman issued an Executive Order. (The various branches took years to abide by that order, with the U.S. Marine Corps in 1960 being the last to desegregate.)
Randolph felt that FOR had succeeded in their goal and wanted to dissolve the committee.[when?] Again, Rustin disagreed with him and voiced his differing opinion in a national press conference, which he later said he regretted.[22]
Rustin traveled to California[
Rustin was also a pioneer in the movement to desegregate interstate bus travel. In 1942, he boarded a bus in
He spoke about his decision to be arrested, and how that moment also clarified his witness as a gay person, in an interview with the Washington Blade in the 1980s:
As I was going by the second seat to go to the rear, a white child reached out for the ring necktie I was wearing and pulled it, whereupon its mother said, "Don't touch a nigger."
If I go and sit quietly at the back of that bus now, that child, who was so innocent of race relations that it was going to play with me, will have seen so many blacks go in the back and sit down quietly that it's going to end up saying, "They like it back there, I've never seen anybody protest against it." I owe it to that child, not only to my own dignity, I owe it to that child, that it should be educated to know that blacks do not want to sit in the back, and therefore I should get arrested, letting all these white people in the bus know that I do not accept that.
It occurred to me shortly after that that it was an absolute necessity for me to declare homosexuality because if I didn't I was a part of the prejudice. I was aiding and abetting the prejudice that was a part of the effort to destroy me.[27]
In 1942, Rustin assisted two other FOR staffers,
As declared
Just before a trip to Africa while college secretary of the FOR, Rustin recorded a
Influence on the Civil Rights Movement
Rustin and Houser organized the
In 1948, Rustin traveled to India to learn techniques of
Rustin was arrested in Pasadena, California, in January 1953 for sexual activity in a parked car with two men in their 20s.[27] Originally charged with vagrancy and lewd conduct, he pleaded guilty to a single, lesser charge of "sex perversion" (as sodomy was officially referred to in California at the time, even if consensual) and served 60 days in jail. The Pasadena arrest was the first time that Rustin's homosexuality had come to public attention. He had been and remained candid in private about his sexuality, although homosexual activity was still criminalized throughout the United States.[36] Rustin resigned from the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) because of his convictions. They also greatly affected Rustin's relationship with A. J. Muste, the director of the FOR. Muste had already tried to change Rustin's sexuality earlier in their relationship with no success. Later in Rustin's life, they continued their relationship with more tension than they had previously.[37] Rustin became the executive secretary of the War Resisters League. An American Legion chapter in Montana used Rustin's Pasadena conviction to try to cancel his lectures in the state.[36]
Rustin served as an unidentified member of the
Rustin took leave from the War Resisters League in 1956 to advise minister Martin Luther King Jr. of the Baptist Church on Gandhian tactics. King was organizing the public transportation boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, which became known as the Montgomery bus boycott. According to Rustin, "I think it's fair to say that Dr. King's view of non-violent tactics was almost non-existent when the boycott began. In other words, Dr. King was permitting himself and his children and his home to be protected by guns." Rustin convinced King to abandon the armed protection, including a personal handgun.[39] In a 1964 interview with Robert Penn Warren for the book Who Speaks for the Negro?, Rustin also reflected that his integrative ideology began to differ from King's. He believed a social movement "has to be based on the collective needs of people at this time, regardless of color, creed, race."[40]
The following year, Rustin and King began organizing the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Many African-American leaders were concerned that Rustin's sexual orientation and past Communist membership would undermine support for the civil rights movement. After the organization of the SCLC, Rustin and King planned a civil rights march adjacent to the 1960 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. This did not sit well with U.S. Representative Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Powell threatened to leak to the press rumors of a fake affair between Rustin and King. King, acting in his interests, canceled the march, and Rustin left his position in the SCLC. King received criticism for this action from Harper's magazine, which wrote about him: "Lost much moral credit ... in the eyes of the young." Although Rustin was open about his sexual orientation and his convictions were a matter of public record, the events had not been discussed widely beyond the civil rights leadership. Rustin did not let this setback change his direction in the movement.[12]
March on Washington
Despite shunning from some civil rights leaders,
[w]hen the moment came for an unprecedented mass gathering in Washington, Randolph pushed Rustin forward as the logical choice to organize it.[41]
A few weeks before the
External videos | |
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"Eyes on the Prize; America, They Loved You Madly; Interview with Bayard Rustin" conducted in 1979 for the America, They Loved You Madly, a precursor to the Eyes on the Prize documentary in which he discusses the Brown decision, the reasons for increased civil rights activism after World War II, and his work to organize the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. |
Rustin became involved in the March on Washington in 1962 when he was recruited by A. Philip Randolph. The march was planned to be a commemoration of the Emancipation Proclamation one hundred years earlier.[12] Rustin was instrumental in organizing the march. He drilled off-duty police officers as marshals, bus captains to direct traffic, and scheduled the podium speakers. Eleanor Holmes Norton and Rachelle Horowitz were aides.[41] Despite King's support, NAACP chairman Roy Wilkins did not want Rustin to receive any public credit for his role in planning the march.[42] Roy Wilkins said, "This march is of such importance that we must not put a person of his liabilities at the head." Because of this conflict, Randolph served as the director of the march and Rustin as his deputy. During the planning of the march, Rustin feared his previous legal issues would pose a threat to the march. Nevertheless, Rustin did become well known. On September 6, 1963, a photograph of Rustin and Randolph appeared on the cover of Life magazine, identifying them as "the leaders" of the March.[42] Rustin stated his thoughts on the march and said it "made Americans feel for the first time that we were capable of being truly a nation, that we were capable of moving beyond division and bigotry".
New York City school boycott
At the beginning of 1964,
The protest demanded complete integration of the city's schools (which would require some whites to attend schools in black neighborhoods), and it challenged the coalition between African Americans and white liberals. An ensuing white backlash affected relations among the black leaders. Writing to black labor leaders, Rustin denounced Galamison for seeking to conduct another boycott in the spring and soon abandoned the coalition.[43]
Rustin organized a May March 18 which called for "maximum possible" integration. Perlstein recounts. "This goal was to be achieved through such modest programs as the construction of larger schools and the replacement of junior high schools with middle schools. The UFT and other white moderates endorsed the May rally, yet only four thousand protesters showed up, and the Board of Education was no more responsive to the conciliatory May demonstration than to the earlier, more confrontational boycott."[43]
When Rustin was invited to speak at the University of Virginia in 1964, school administrators tried to ban him, out of fear that he would organize a school boycott there.
From protest to politics
In the spring of 1964, Martin Luther King was considering hiring Rustin as executive director of SCLC but was advised against it by Stanley Levison, a longtime activist friend of Rustin's. He opposed the hire because of what he considered Rustin's growing devotion to the political theorist Max Shachtman. Other SCLC leaders opposed Rustin due to his sexuality.[44]
At the
After the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Rustin advocated closer ties between the civil rights movement and the Democratic Party, specifically the party's base among the white working class, many of whom still had strong union affiliations. With Tom Kahn, Rustin wrote an influential article in 1964 called "From Protest to Politics", published in Commentary magazine; it analyzed the changing economy and its implications for African Americans. Rustin wrote presciently that the rise of automation would reduce the demand for low-skill high-paying jobs, which would jeopardize the position of the urban African-American working class, particularly in northern states. He believed that the working class had to collaborate across racial lines for common economic goals. His prophecy has been proven right in the dislocation and loss of jobs for many urban African Americans due to the restructuring of industry in the coming decades. Rustin believed that the African-American community needed to change its political strategy, building and strengthening a political alliance with predominately white unions and other organizations (churches, synagogues, etc.) to pursue a common economic agenda. He wrote that it was time to move from protest to politics. Rustin's analysis of the economic problems of the Black community was widely influential.[45]
Rustin argued that since black people could now legally sit in the restaurant after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, they needed to be able to afford service financially. He believed that a coalition of progressive forces to move the Democratic Party forward was needed to change the economic structure.[46]
He also argued that the African-American community was threatened by the appeal of identity politics, particularly the rise of "Black power". He thought this position was a fantasy of middle-class black people that repeated the political and moral errors of previous black nationalists, while alienating the white allies needed by the African-American community. Nation editor and Harvard Law Professor Randall Kennedy noted later that, while Rustin had a general "disdain of nationalism", he had a "very different attitude toward Jewish nationalism" and was "unflaggingly supportive of Zionism".[47]
Commentary editor-in-chief
Because of these positions, Rustin was criticized as a "sell-out" by many of his former colleagues in the civil rights movement, especially those connected to
Kennedy notes that despite Rustin's conservative turn in the mid-1960s, he remained a lifelong socialist,
Labor movement: Unions and social democracy
Rustin increasingly worked to strengthen the labor movement, which he saw as the champion of empowerment for the African American community and for economic justice for all Americans. He contributed to the labor movement's two sides, economic and political, through the support of labor unions and social-democratic politics. He was the founder and became the Director of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, which coordinated the AFL-CIO's work on civil rights and economic justice. He became a regular columnist for the AFL-CIO newspaper.
On the political side of the labor movement, Rustin increased his visibility as a leader of the American movement for
During the 1960s, Rustin was a member[52] of the League for Industrial Democracy.[53] He would remain a member for years, and became vice president during the 1980s.[54]
Foreign policy
Like many liberals and some socialists, Rustin supported President
Along with
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Rustin worked as a human rights and election monitor for Freedom House.[57]
In 1970, Rustin called for the U.S. to send military jets in the fight against
Rustin maintained his strongly anti-Soviet and anti-communist views later in his life, especially with regard to Africa. Rustin co-wrote with
In 1976, Rustin was a member of the anti-communist
Soviet Jewry movement
The plight of Jews in the Soviet Union reminded Rustin of the struggles that blacks faced in the United States. Soviet Jews faced many of the same forms of discrimination in employment, education, and housing, while also being prisoners within their own country by being denied the chance to emigrate by Soviet authorities.[61][page needed] After seeing the injustice that Soviet Jews faced, Rustin became a leading voice in advocating for the movement of Jews from the Soviet Union to Israel. He worked closely with Senator Henry Jackson of Washington, who introduced legislation that tied trade relations with the Soviet Union to their treatment of Jews.[62] In 1966 he chaired the historic Ad hoc Commission on Rights of Soviet Jews organized by the Conference on the Status of Soviet Jews, leading a panel of six jurors in the commission's public tribunal on Jewish life in the Soviet Union. Members of the panel included Telford Taylor, the Nuremberg war trial prosecutor and Columbia University professor of law, Dr. John C. Bennett, president of the Union Theological Seminary; Reverend George B. Ford, pastor emeritus of the Corpus Christi Church; Samuel Fishman representing United Automobile Workers; and Norman Thomas, veteran Socialist leader.[63] The commission collected testimonies from Soviet Jews and compiled them into a report that was delivered to the secretary-general of the United Nations. The report urged the international community to demand that the Soviet authorities allow Jews to practice their religion, preserve their culture, and emigrate from the USSR at their will.[63] The testimonies from Soviet Jews were published by Moshe Decter, the executive secretary of the Conference on the Status of Soviet Jews, in a book—Redemption! Jewish freedom letters from Russia, with a foreword by Rustin.[64] Through the 1970s and 1980s Rustin wrote several articles on the subject of Soviet Jewry and appeared at Soviet Jewry movement rallies, demonstrations, vigils, and conferences, in the United States and abroad.[65] He co-sponsored the National Interreligious Task Force on Soviet Jewry. Rustin allied with Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, an outspoken advocate for Soviet Jewry, and worked closely with Senator Henry Jackson, informing the Jackson–Vanik amendment, vital legislation that restricted United States trade with the Soviet Union in relation to its treatment of Jews.[62]
Criticisms
Rustin was at the forefront of the freedom struggle for African Americans but parted ways from the activists in 1968. He was considered an “Uncle Tom” by some as he started to fight for equality for all and not just blacks. An incident in the summer of 1964 in which a police officer killed a black child led to violence. “When he urged blacks to resist with non-violence, they spat at him and shot back “Uncle Tom! Uncle Tom!”. This comes after protesters of blacks and Puerto Ricans were denied job opportunities by the New York government. Rustin’s views of the protest were to “urge them not to behave with desperation but politically and rationally.” Bayard wanted to create a just society and step away from the nonviolent approach that he had followed in previous years. He would later switch from radicalism to the conservative side. Rustin wanted blacks to align themselves with whites to see progression.[66]
Gay rights
Davis Platt, Bayard's partner from the 1940s,[67] said "I never had any sense at all that Bayard felt any shame or guilt about his homosexuality. That was rare in those days. Rare."[36]
Bayard often would be viewed as bisexual because of those attracted to him. His relationships were mainly with the men, both black and white. However, his longer relationships were with the latter. Rustin did not realize his sexual orientation when he was in school. His awareness left no worry, and his family openly accepted it.[24]
Rustin did not engage in any gay rights activism until the 1980s. He was urged to do so by his partner Walter Naegle, who has said that "I think that if I hadn't been in the office at that time, when these invitations [from gay organizations] came in, he probably wouldn't have done them."[68] He advocated for AIDS/HIV, and because of his public works, he may have “came out” to the public. Rustin no longer hinders his sexual orientation from others. “His aim--to how people responded to him as a black gay man—was “the new barometer for social change”.[69]
Because same-sex marriage was not officially recognized at the time, Rustin and Naegle undertook to solidify their partnership and protect their union legally through adoption: in 1982 Rustin adopted Naegle, 30 years old at the time. Naegle explained that Bayard:[70]
... was concerned about protecting my rights, because gay people had no protection. At that time, marriage between a same-sex couple was inconceivable. And so he adopted me, legally adopted me, in 1982.
That was the only thing we could do to kind of legalize our relationship. We actually had to go through a process as if Bayard was adopting a small child. My biological mother had to sign a legal paper, a paper disowning me. They had to send a social worker to our home. When the social worker arrived, she had to sit us down to talk to us to make sure that this was a fit home.
Rustin testified in favor of the New York City Gay Rights Bill. In 1986, he gave a speech "The New Niggers Are Gays" in which he asserted:[71]
Today, blacks are no longer the litmus paper or the barometer of social change. Blacks are in every segment of society and there are laws that help to protect them from racial discrimination. The new "niggers" are gays... It is in this sense that gay people are the new barometer for social change... The question of social change should be framed with the most vulnerable group in mind: gay people.
Also in 1986, Rustin was invited to contribute to the book In the Life: A Black Gay Anthology. He declined, explaining:[72]
I was not involved in the struggle for gay rights as a youth ... I did not "come out of the closet" voluntarily—circumstances forced me out. While I have no problem with being publicly identified as homosexual, it would be dishonest of me to present myself as one who was in the forefront of the struggle for gay rights ... I fundamentally consider sexual orientation to be a private matter. As such, it has not been a factor which has greatly influenced my role as an activist.
Death and beliefs
Rustin died on August 24, 1987, of a perforated
Rustin's personal philosophy is said to have been inspired by combining Quaker pacifism with socialism (as taught by A. Philip Randolph), and the theory of non-violent protest popularized by Mahatma Gandhi.[9]
President Ronald Reagan issued a statement on Rustin's death, praising his work for civil rights and "for human rights throughout the world". He added that Rustin "was denounced by former friends, because he never gave up his conviction that minorities in America could and would succeed based on their individual merit".[6]
Legacy
External videos | |
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Vietnam: A Television History; Homefront USA; Interview with Bayard Rustin, 1982, 39:32, WGBH-TV[76] | |
The Bayard Rustin Papers, 1:05:32, Library of Congress[77] |
According to journalist Steve Hendrix, Rustin "faded from the shortlist of well-known civil rights lions", in part because he was active behind the scenes, and also because of public discomfort with his sexual orientation and former communist membership.
Rustin served as chairman of Social Democrats, USA, which, The Washington Post wrote in 2013, "was a breeding ground for many neoconservatives".[79] French historian Justin Vaïsse classifies him as a "right-wing socialist" and "second age neoconservative", citing his role as vice-chair of the Coalition for a Democratic Majority, which was involved in the second incarnation of the Committee on the Present Danger.[80][81]
According to
Several buildings have been named in honor of Rustin, including the
Rustin is one of two men who have both participated in the Penn Relays and had a school, West Chester Rustin High School, named in his honor that participates in the relays.[85] In 1985, Haverford College awarded Rustin an honorary doctorate in law.[86]
1990s and 2000s
In 1995, a
A 1998 anthology movie, Out of the Past, featured letters and archival footage of Rustin.[89]
The West Chester Area School District voted in 2002 to approve the creation of Bayard Rustin High School in a 6–3 vote.[90] Those in favor mentioned Rustin's involvement in the civil rights movement, and opposition was tied to Rustin's sexuality and political views.[91] The school opened in 2006.[92][93]
In July 2007 after a year's collaboration starting in June 2006, a group of San Francisco Bay Area Black LGBT community leaders officially formed the Bayard Rustin Coalition (BRC), with the permission of the Estate of Bayard Rustin. The BRC promotes greater Black participation in the electoral process, advances civil and human rights issues, and promotes the legacy of Rustin.[94]
2010s and beyond
In 2011, the Bayard Rustin Center for LGBTQA Activism, Awareness, and Reconciliation was announced at Guilford College, a Quaker school.[95] Formerly the Queer and Allied Resource Center, the center was rededicated in March 2011 with the permission of the Estate of Bayard Rustin and featured a keynote address by social justice activist Mandy Carter.[96]
In 2012, Rustin was inducted into the
On August 8, 2013, President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Rustin the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States. The citation in the press release stated:[101]
Bayard Rustin was an unyielding activist for civil rights, dignity, and equality for all. An advisor to the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., he promoted nonviolent resistance, participated in one of the first Freedom Rides, organized the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and fought tirelessly for marginalized communities at home and abroad. As an openly gay African American, Mr. Rustin stood at the intersection of several of the fights for equal rights.
At the White House ceremony on November 20, 2013, President Obama presented Rustin's award to Walter Naegle, his partner of ten years at the time of Rustin's death.[7]
In 2014, Rustin was one of the inaugural honorees in the
Canadian writer Steven Elliott Jackson wrote a play that stages an imaginary meeting and one-night-stand between Rustin and Walter Jenkins of the Johnson administration called The Seat Next to the King. The play won the award for Best Play at the 2017 Toronto Fringe Festival.[103][104] A full-length play with music, written by Steve H. Broadnax III, Bayard Rustin Inside Ashland, dramatizing Rustin's World War II prison experience and its central role in his lifetime of activism, had its world premiere on May 22, 2022, at People's Light and Theatre Company in Malvern, Pennsylvania.[105]
The Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice was established in Princeton, New Jersey in 2018, with Naegle acting as Board Member Emeritus.[106] It serves as a community activist center and safe space for LGBTQ kids, intersectional families, and marginalized people.[107]
Rustin was one of the fifty inaugural American "pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes" inducted in June 2019 to the
In January 2020, California State Senator
In 2021 Higher Ground Productions, founded by Michelle and Barack Obama, announced production of Rustin, a biographical film directed by George C. Wolfe and starring Colman Domingo in the title role.[114][115] The film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on August 31, 2023, and was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 13, 2023. It received a limited theatrical release on November 3, 2023, followed by a Netflix release on November 17. Reviews were generally positive, with Colman Domingo's performance garnering numerous accolades including Best Actor nominations for the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, and Golden Globe Award.
A street in Nyack, New York was renamed "Bayard Rustin Way" in 2022 to honor Rustin's memory.[116]
On June 5, 2023, the Pasadena City Council adopted a resolution introduced by Councilmember Jason Lyon declaring that the "City of Pasadena celebrates and concurs in the Governor's 2020 pardon of Bayard Rustin" and supporting the issuance of a commemorative United States postage stamp honoring Rustin.[117][118]
Publications
- Interracial primer, New York: Fellowship of Reconciliation, 1943
- Interracial workshop: progress report, New York: Sponsored by Congress of Racial Equality and Fellowship of Reconciliation, 1947
- Journey of reconciliation: report, New York : Fellowship of Reconciliation, Congress of Racial Equality, 1947
- We challenged Jim Crow! a report on the journey of reconciliation, April 9–23, 1947, New York: Fellowship of Reconciliation, Congress of Racial Equality, 1947
- "In apprehension how like a god!", Philadelphia: Young Friends Movement 1948
- The revolution in the South", Cambridge, Massachusetts.: Peace Education Section, American Friends Service Committee, 1950s
- Report on Montgomery, Alabama New York: War Resisters League, 1956
- A report and action suggestions on non-violence in the South New York: War Resisters League, 1957
- Civil rights: the true frontier, New York: Donald Press, 1963
- From protest to politics: the future of the civil rights movement, New York: League for Industrial Democracy, 1965
- The city in crisis, (introduction) New York: A. Philip Randolph Educational Fund, 1965
- "Black power" and coalition politics, New York, American Jewish Committee, 1966
- Which way? (with Daniel Patrick Moynihan), New York: American Press, 1966
- The Watts "Manifesto" & the McCone report., New York, League for Industrial Democracy, 1966
- Fear, frustration, backlash: the new crisis in civil rights, New York, Jewish Labor Committee, 1966
- The lessons of the long hot summer, New York, American Jewish Committee, 1967
- The Negro community: frustration politics, sociology and economics, Detroit: UAW Citizenship-Legislative Department, 1967
- A way out of the exploding ghetto, New York: League for Industrial Democracy, 1967
- The alienated: the young rebels today and why they're different, Washington, D.C.: International Labor Press Association, 1967
- "Right to work" laws: a trap for America's minorities, New York: A. Philip Randolph Institute, 1967
- Civil rights: the movement re-examined (contributor), New York: A. Philip Randolph Educational Fund, 1967
- Separatism or integration, which way for America?: a dialogue (with Robert Browne), New York, A. Philip Randolph Educational Fund, 1968
- The Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, an analysis, New York, American Jewish Committee, 1968
- The labor-Negro coalition, a new beginning, Washington? D.C.: American Federationist?, 1968
- The anatomy of frustration, New York: Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, 1968
- Morals concerning minorities, mental health and identity, New York: A. Philip Randolph Institute, 1969
- Black studies: myths & realities (contributor), New York: A. Philip Randolph Educational Fund, 1969
- Conflict or coalition?: the civil rights struggle and the trade union movement today, New York: A. Philip Randolph Institute, 1969
- Three essays, New York: A. Philip Randolph Institute, 1969
- Black rage, White fear: the full employment answer: an address, Washington, D.C.: Bricklayers, Masons & Plasterers International Union, 1970
- A word to black students, New York: A. Philip Randolph Institute, 1970
- The failure of black separatism, New York: A. Philip Randolph Institute, 1970
- The blacks and the unions (contributor), New York: A. Philip Randolph Educational Fund, 1971
- Down the line; the collected writings of Bayard Rustin, Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1971
- Affirmative action in an economy of scarcity (with Norman Hill), New York: A. Philip Randolph Institute, 1974
- Seniority and racial progress (with Norman Hill), New York: A. Philip Randolph Institute, 1975
- Have we reached the end of the second reconstruction?, Bloomington, Indiana: The Poynter Center, 1976
- Strategies for freedom: the changing patterns of Black protest, New York: Columbia University Press, 1976
- Africa, Soviet imperialism and the retreat of American power, New York: Social Democrats, USA (reprint), 1978
- South Africa: is peaceful change possible? a report (contributor), New York: New York Friends Group, 1984
- Time on two crosses: the collected writings of Bayard Rustin, San Francisco: Cleis Press, 2003
- I Must Resist: Bayard Rustin's Life in Letters: City Lights, 2012
See also
- List of civil rights leaders
- Timeline of the civil rights movement
- Rustin, a 2023 American biographical drama film directed by George C. Wolfe about Bayard Rustin.
References
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- ^ "Documenting the American South: Oral Histories of the American South". docsouth.unc.edu. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
- ^ Morgan, Thad (June 1, 2018). "Why MLK's Right-Hand Man Was Nearly Written Out of History". HISTORY. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
- ^ Justin Vaïsse, Neoconservatism: The Biography of a Movement (Harvard University Press, 2010), pp. 71–75. Archived September 13, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Table: The Three Ages of Neoconservatism" Archived March 20, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Neoconservatism: Biography of Movement by Justin Vaisse, official website.
- ^ a b Associated Press, "Reagan Praises Deceased Civil Rights Leader" Archived March 31, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Justin Snow (November 20, 2013). "Obama honors Bayard Rustin and Sally Ride with Medal of Freedom". metroweekly.com. Retrieved November 21, 2013.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-02-865816-2.
- ^ a b Bayard Rustin Biography Archived April 30, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, (2015), Biography.com. Retrieved 07:37, February 28, 2015.
- ^ Dixon, Mark E. (October 2013). "Bayard Rustin's Civil Rights Legacy Began with Grandmother Julia Rustin". Main Line Today. Archived from the original on October 22, 2018. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
- ^ "Bayard Rustin Biography". Spartacus Educational. Archived from the original on April 19, 2014.
- ^ a b c d Gates, Henry Louis Jr. (January 20, 2013). "Bayard Rustin, the Gay Civil Rights Leader Who Organized the March on Washington | African American History Blog". The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross. PBS. Retrieved May 26, 2019.
- ^ Watson, Warren. "LibGuides: History of Wilberforce University: Bayard Rustin". wilberforcepayne.libguides.com. Archived from the original on October 30, 2020. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
- ^ "Notable Omegas – Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc". Archived from the original on April 20, 2020. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
- ^ Mann, Leslie (February 1, 2012). "Not-so-secret life of gay civil rights leader Bayard Rustin". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on February 20, 2016.
- ^ "Bayard Rustin | AFL-CIO". aflcio.org. Retrieved September 3, 2023.
- ^ D'Emilio 2003, pp. 21, 24.
- ^ D'Emilio 2003, pp. 31–32.
- ISBN 978-1-4008-3946-9. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
- ^ August Meier and Elliot Rudwick. Black Detroit and the Rise of the UAW.
- ^ Browder, Earl (1941). "The Communist" (PDF).
- ^ ISBN 978-1-85109-769-2.
- ^ a b Berman, Paul (April 21, 1997). "The Prince of Protest". New Republic. pp. 34–39.
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- ^ a b c d Hendrix, Steve (August 21, 2011). "Bayard Rustin, organizer of the March on Washington, was crucial to the movement". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 22, 2011.
- ^ a b Life Magazine Archived November 5, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, September 6, 1963.
- ^ a b c d e Daniel Perlstein, "The dead end of despair: Bayard Rustin, the 1968 New York school crisis, and the struggle for racial justice". Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, New York City government.
- ^ Taylor Branch, Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years 1963–1965 (Simon & Schuster, 1999), p. 292–293 Archived April 6, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Staughton Lynd, another civil rights activist, responded with an article entitled "Coalition Politics or Nonviolent Revolution?"
- ^ a b c Chandra, Mridu (January 1, 2004). "Bayard Rustin's Life in Struggle". The Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
- ^ a b c Randall Kennedy, "From Protest to Patronage" Archived January 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, The Nation, September 11, 2003.
- ^ Walter Goodman, "Podhoretz on 25 Years at Commentary", Archived March 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, January 31, 1985.
- ^ Crabb, Kenneth (March 24, 2012). "Bayard Rustin at 100". The Indypendent. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
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- ^ a b "Socialist Party Now the Social Democrats, U.S.A." The New York Times. December 31, 1972. Retrieved February 8, 2010. (limited free access).
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- ^ Matthew Arlyck, "Review of I Must Resist: Letters of Bayard Rustin", Fellowship of Reconciliation website. Archived April 19, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
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- ^ a b "Commission to Present Findings on Soviet Jewry to U.N." Jewish Telegraphic Agency. December 5, 1966. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
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Bibliography
- Anderson, Jervis. Bayard Rustin: Troubles I've Seen (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1997).
- Bennett, Scott H. Radical Pacifism: The War Resisters League and Gandhian Nonviolence in America, 1915–1963 (Syracuse Univ. Press, 2003). ISBN 0-8156-3028-X.
- Branch, Taylor. Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954–63 (New York: Touchstone, 1989).
- Carbado, Devon W. and Donald Weise, editors. Time on Two Crosses: The Collected Writings of Bayard Rustin (San Francisco: Cleis Press, 2003). ISBN 1-57344-174-0
- D'Emilio, John. Lost Prophet: Bayard Rustin and the Quest for Peace and Justice in America (New York: The Free Press, 2003).
- D'Emilio, John. Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2004). ISBN 0-226-14269-8
- Frazier, Nishani (2017). Harambee City: Congress of Racial Equality in Cleveland and the Rise of Black Power Populism. University of Arkansas Press. ISBN 1682260186.
- Haskins, James. Bayard Rustin: Behind the Scenes of the Civil Rights Movement (New York: Hyperion, 1997).
- Hirschfelder, Nicole. Oppression as Process: The Case of Bayard Rustin (Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2014). ISBN 3825363902
- Kates, Nancy and Bennett Singer (dirs.) Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin (2003)
- King, Martin Luther Jr.; Carson, Clayborne; Luker, Ralph & Penny A. Russell The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.: Volume IV: Symbol of the Movement, January 1957 – December 1958. University of California Press, 2000. ISBN 0-520-22231-8
- Le Blanc, Paul and Michael Yates, A Freedom Budget for All Americans: Recapturing the Promise of the Civil Rights Movement in the Struggle for Economic Justice Today (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2013).
- Podair, Jerald E. "Bayard Rustin: American Dreamer" (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Pub., 2009). ISBN 978-0-7425-4513-7
- Levine, Daniel (2000). Bayard Rustin and the civil rights movement. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. p. 352. ISBN 0-8135-2718-X.
- Lewis, David L. King: A Biography. (University of Illinois Press, 1978). ISBN 0-252-00680-1.
- Rustin, Bayard. Down the Line: The Collected Writings of Bayard Rustin (Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1971).
- Rustin, Bayard; Bond, Julian (2012). I Must Resist: Bayard Rustin's Life in Letters. City Lights Books. ISBN 978-0-87286-578-5.
External links
- SNCC Digital Gateway: Bayard Rustin, Documentary website created by the SNCC Legacy Project and Duke University, telling the story of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee & grassroots organizing from the inside-out
- Bayard Rustin – Who Is This Man?
- Rund Abdelfatah (February 25, 2021). "Remembering Bayard Rustin: The Man Behind the March on Washington". Throughline (Podcast). NPR. Retrieved August 14, 2021.
- FBI file on Bayard Rustin
- Bayard Rustin, Civil Rights Leader, from Quakerinfo.org
- Brother Outsider, a documentary on Rustin
- Randall Kennedy, "From Protest to Patronage." The Nation
- Guide to the Papers of Bayard Rustin at the American Jewish Historical Society.
- Bayard Rustin at the Internet Broadway Database
- Bayard Rustin Collected Papers finding aid at the Swarthmore College Peace Collection