Remembering Bayard Rustin: The Gay Civil Rights Leader Who Mentored MLK
As we celebrate Black History Month, The Green Book Project is highlighting the lives of four great Black Americans. Our third African American trailblazer is civil rights leader and humanitarian, Bayard Rustin. Bayard Rustin passed away on August 24th, 1987 at the age of 75.
Bayard Rustin was one of the most influential civil rights activists of the twentieth century. Yet, he is probably one of the least known civil rights activists of that era. Despite being forced to work in the shadows because of his sexual orientation, Rustin worked tirelessly for change. His determination to end discrimination and bigotry, stemmed from his belief that all humans were from the same family and deserving of dignity.
“When an individual is protesting society’s refusal to acknowledge his dignity as a human being, his very act of protest confers dignity on him.”
Early Life
Born on March 17, 1912, Rustin was one of 12 children raised by his maternal grandparents. His grandmother, Julia Rustin was a Quaker (a religious denomination) and very active in the NAACP. Rustin’s upbringing as a Quaker instilled an unshakeable belief in nonviolence. His grandmother’s involvement with the NAACP meant that a young Bayard was influenced by the likes of W.E.B. Du Bois, Mary McLeod Bethune and James Weldon Johnson (civil rights leader and leader of the NAACP), who were frequent guests in their home.
Rustin studied at City College of New York after finishing high school, but did not graduate. While at City College, he joined the Young Communist League (YCL). He was attracted by the Communists’ commitment to racial justice, but quit after they ordered him to stop protesting racial segregation.
Civil Rights Activist
Shortly after leaving the YCL, Rustin started working with union organizer A. Philip Randolph. Together, Randolph and Rustin planned and organized the 1941 March on Washington Movement to protest segregation in the armed forces, and the exclusion of Black people from employment in the defense industries.
During this same period of time, Rustin joined the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) and co-founded the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). CORE pioneered the nonviolent strategy for civil rights protests. Rustin traveled throughout the country speaking and leading workshops on nonviolent direct action.
During WWII, he was arrested as a conscientious objector and spent two years in jail. Upon his release, Rustin embarked on an early version of the Freedom Rides to test the Supreme Court ruling in Morgan v. Virginia (1946) which abolished segregation on buses crossing state lines. This landed him on a chain gang in North Carolina.
In 1953, despite all his successful work for FOR, Rustin was forced to resign. He had been arrested for “lewd conduct” for having sex with two white men. At this time, sodomy was a crime in the US and he served 60 days in jail.
As a result of his earlier communist affiliation, and his sodomy arrest, the FBI kept a file on Rustin. Because of J. Edgar Hoover’s fear of his own homosexuality being revealed (as well as credible rumors that he was passing as white), he had a vendetta against not only communists but the LGBTQ community, and Black people as well. Thus, the agency went to great lengths to track and intimidate these groups. Rustin fit within all of these intersections, which in the eyes of many in the civil rights movement made him a liability to the movement. This misuse of power by the FBI would later extend to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr as well.
Mentor to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr
In 1956, Rustin went to Alabama to advise Dr. King during the Montgomery bus boycott. Rustin provided King with a deep understanding of the nonviolent strategies pioneered by Gandhi. Before this, King had only an academic understanding of these tactics.
Eight years prior to this, Rustin had traveled to India to study Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence. This philosophy, coupled with his strong Quaker values of pacifism provided Rustin with a strong belief in nonviolent resistance, which he was able to impress upon King.
Rustin at one point stated, “I think it’s fair to say that Dr. King’s view of nonviolent tactics was almost non-existent when the boycott began,” noting that King had armed himself and his home with guns. Rustin convinced King to rid his home and his person of weapons.
When King invited Rustin to continue on as his close and trusted chief advisor, he was well aware of Rustin’s homosexuality and former affiliation with the Communist Party. Rustin fulfilled a number of roles for King during this time, including proofreader, ghostwriter, philosophy teacher, and nonviolence strategist.
In 1957, Rustin helped King organize the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). He created the discussion guidelines for the founding meeting, and he drafted most of King’s memoir, Stride Toward Freedom. Rustin did not want his name credited in the book because of his concern for the repercussions it may have for King. Later that year, Rustin organized the 1957 Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom, provided copious notes detailing the goals of the march, and what topics King should address in his speech.
Due to homophobia and continued fear that Rustin was a liability, Rustin would receive no public recognition for his vital role in this movement. Rustin, who was not a prideful man, still continued his work in the Civil Rights Movement and organized the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom with Randolph.
Concerned that Rustin’s involvement would cause issues for the movement, Roy Wilkins, chairman of the NAACP, insisted that Rustin not receive public credit for his role in organizing the March. To appease Wilkins, A. Philip Randolph was named director, and Rustin deputy director of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Despite Wilkins’ attempts to conceal Rustin’s influence, Rustin and Randolph appeared on the cover of the September 6, 1963 issue of Life magazine, identifying them as “the leaders” of the March.
Activism and Death
From 1965 to 1979 Rustin served as president of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, an organization of black trade unionists dedicated to racial equality and economic justice. Rustin remained politically active until his death.
Before the 1980s Rustin had not engaged in any gay rights activism, believing a person’s sexual orientation is a private matter. His partner, Walter Naegle, encouraged him to be more vocal in this arena. In 1986, the year before he died, he testified in favor of New York State’s Gay Rights Bill.
Bayard Rustin died from a perforated appendix on August 24, 1987. His obituary quoted Rustin as having said,
“The principal factors which influenced my life are 1) nonviolent tactics; 2) constitutional means; 3) democratic procedures; 4) respect for human personality; 5) a belief that all people are one.”
Rustin’s tireless quest for equity, though totally unacknowledged in his time, is an example of the type of humble commitment to changing the world that we should all seek to embody. In a written statement to Mayor Koch, in regards to the 1986 Gay Rights Bill, Rustin stated that the lesson he had learned in fifty years of fighting for human rights was:
“No group is ultimately safe from prejudice, bigotry, and harassment so long as any group is subject to special negative treatment.”
The Green Book Project tagline, Never Feel Out of Place is based on Rustin’s wise observation. The Green Book Project is committed to creating a safe world, where no group is subject to prejudice, bigotry or harassment. We can’t do that without you. We need your eyes and ears, your experiences, and your action. Download The Green Book Project in the Apple App Store or Google Play; write a review and share it today!
Rustin’s legacy has been enshrined through numerous honors and buildings established in his name. See below:
Honors and Legacy
Buildings named in Rustin’s honor include:
In addition to buildings, Rustin’s legacy has been honored in the following ways:
- Bayard was a prolific writer, authoring or contributing to more than forty publications. Much of his writing has been compiled into the 2003 book Time on Two Crosses: The Collected Writings of Rustin Bayard.
- Delta Phi Upsilon Fraternity, Inc. was established in 1985 as the first Greek-letter organization for gay black men. The Bayard Rustin Scholarship Award was created to honor Rustin’s work and selfless character. DPU awards the Bayard Rustin scholarship in varying amounts at the chapter and national levels.
- In 1995, a Pennsylvania State Historical Marker commemorating Rustin’s accomplishments was placed on the grounds of Henderson High School, which he attended.
- The 1998 documentary Out of the Past, examines the struggles of Gay and Lesbian rights. It focused on the lives of five gay and lesbian people from America’s past, including Rustin.
- A biographical documentary, Brother Outsider, was released in 2003 at the Sundance Film Festival and garnered many nominations and awards.
- In 2013, President Obama posthumously awarded Rustin the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award. Th
- Higher Ground Productions, founded by Michelle and Barack Obama is producing the upcoming biopic Rustin to be released later this year (2022).
