Photo of Bayard Rustin (1964)

CROSS-LINK: Accomplishments of the Civil Rights Movement

 Bayard Rustin was a Civil Rights and gay rights advocate who worked with Dr.Martin Luther King on things such as the March on Washington in 1941.

He was also a frequent critic and debater of Malcolm X as he was committed to the ideals of non-violence for the cause.

While openly gay he was first and foremost concerned with the civil rights movement and did not interact with many gay rights organizations until he was encouraged by his partner. He was also targeted and arrested and filed as a sex offender due to his sexual orientation.

Rustin was even arrested and became registered sex offender for his sexual orientation as part of sting operation which discriminatorily target the LGBTQ and African American communities. 

 Biography of Bayard Rustin from Stanford King center

Black, Gay and a Pacifist: Bayard Rustin Remembered for Role in March on Washington, Mentoring MLK, Democracy Now (August 12, 2013)

Obama Awards Bayard Rustin the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Moyers & Company, August 10, 2013

History's People: Remembering Bayard Rustin, Chester County Historical Society

Bayard Rustin's two most influential partners speak on his life and experience as a gay man

https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/100-amazing-facts/who-designed-the-march-on-washington/ A PBS discussion of who Bayard Rustin was.

Primary Sources

Bayard Rustin FBI Records

Interview with Bayard Rustin, 1979 from Eyes on the Prize Interviews

Economic Bill of Rights, drafted by Bayard Rustin and presented to President Lyndon Johnson, April 4, 1968

Bayard Rustin, 1965

 Multimedia Resources

Go to 40:00 of this interview from 1979 to hear why Bayard Rustin believed violence for their cause would have been impossible. 

Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin

Click here to see a short video clip of a debate between Bayard Rustin and Malcolm Xon YouTube.

https://mass.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/fp19.lgbtq.rustin/bayard-rustin/ PBS video on the life of Bayard Rustin

Upcoming Netflix Movie>  The upcoming biopic of Bayard Rustin, coming in 2023.

Picture Taken In front of 170 W 130 St., March on Washington, l to r, Bayard Rustin, Deputy Director,

and Cleveland Robinson, Chairman of Administrative Committee / World Telegram & Sun photo by O. Fernandez.

Historical Connections for the March on Washington

A. Philip Randolph, November 1942

A. Philip Randolph Proposed March on Washington, 1941 from PBS The Strange Career of Jim Crow