Iconic black civil and gay rights leader Bayard Rustin died in 1987 on this date.
Rustin served as co-organizer of the 1963 civil rights March on Washington in which his friend, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. At the time this March on Washington was the biggest protest America had ever witnessed.
Writing in the Huffington Post in 2013, described Rustin as, ” … an organizer, strategist, speaker and writer — to challenge the economic and racial status quo. Always an outsider, he helped catalyze the civil-rights movement with courageous acts of resistance. Rustin was a brilliant thinker and strategist, but given his political liabilities as a gay, black, radical pacifist, he also relied on his incredible charm to win converts to the causes of peace and civil rights.”
Drier continued, “Rustin is not as well known as other civil rights leaders in large part because of his homosexuality and his brief flirtation, during his twenties, with Communism. Although highly respected in labor, pacifist, and civil rights circles, he was typically a behind-the-scenes organizer rather than a public figure.”
Rustin eventually became a public figure and respected political insider. He not only shaped civil rights movement strategy as a longtime advisor to Martin Luther King Jr., but was known and respected by numerous U.S. Presidents and foreign leaders.
In 2013 the White House announced that Rustin would be posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States. Rustin’s partner Walter Naegle accepted the award on his behalf.
In remarks made at the award ceremony, Nov. 20, 2013, President Barack Obama said,
“Now, early in the morning the day of the March on Washington, the National Mall was far from full and some in the press were beginning to wonder if the event would be a failure. But the march’s chief organizer, Bayard Rustin, didn’t panic. As the story goes, he looked down at a piece of paper, looked back up, and reassured reporters that everything was right on schedule. The only thing those reporters didn’t know was that the paper he was holding was blank. He didn’t know how it was going to work out, but Bayard had an unshakable optimism, nerves of steel, and, most importantly, a faith that if the cause is just and people are organized, nothing can stand in our way.
“So, for decades, this great leader, often at Dr. King’s side, was denied his rightful place in history because he was openly gay. No medal can change that, but today, we honor Bayard Rustin’s memory by taking our place in his march towards true equality, no matter who we are or who we love.”
San Diego LGBT Weekly publisher, Stampp Corbin co-wrote Never Speak My Name, a screenplay about the life of Bayard Rustin, with Walter G. Meyer and Jo Ann Allen. The script was a 2014 One in Ten Screenplay Contest Finalist.
The National LGBT Task Force together with The International Court System is running a campaign to get the U.S. Postal Service to create a U.S. postage stamp in honor of Bayard Rustin. More information on that can be found here.
