#black activist

[triumph-of-adaptation]

What Happened, Miss Simone? (2015) dir. Liz Garbus

[lgbtawarenessproject]

Bayard Rustin: Mr. March-on-Washington Pt.1

There is so much to write about Mr. Bayard Rustin, so this will be a 4-part series. This first section will be an introduction to Mr. Rustin, the second will cover his life from roughly 1912-1953. I will then cover from 1953-1965. The final section will go from 1965 onwards.

Bayard Rustin was a Black civil rights activist. Born in 1912 he and twelve others were raised by his grandparents. Rustin was born and raised in Pennsylvania and attended West Chester High, where he played football and was remarked for intelligence and leadership skills. Rustin was raised as a Quaker, which taught him the importance of non-violent resistance. Rustin spent five years in several different universities, but never graduated.

In 1941, Bayard Rustin joined the Fellowship for Reconciliation (FOR), a non-denominational religious anti-war organization. Rustin became their Field Secretary (although one source says he was actually the Field Secretary for CORE), and eventually he was the Race Relations Director of FOR. During WW2, Rustin spent over two years in prison as a conscientious objector. Also in 1941 Rustin helped found the New York branch of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).

Come 1947, Rustin and other participants in CORE's Journey of Reconciliation across the states were arrested. This journey was a test of the Supreme Courts decision barring segregation in interstate travel and became the model for the Freedom Rides in the 1960s.

In 1953 Rustin was arrested and beaten by police for being caught having sex with two men in a parked car in Pasadena, California. Upon arrest Rustin was beaten and ended up losing a tooth. He spent fifty days in jail and was registered as a sex offender. Upon release, Rustin was asked under the table to resign from his position in FOR due to his homosexuality.

Bayard Rustin met Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1956. Shortly thereafter, even knowing of his homosexuality, Dr. King made Rustin his advisor. As his advisor Rustin was King's proof-reader, ghostwriter, philosophy teacher, a nonviolent strategist. He even helped Dr. King draft his memoir "Stride Toward Freedom" but refused to be credited.

In 1963, Rustin had two months to plan the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march where Dr. King gave his well-known "I Have a Dream" speech. Rustin was put in charge of this event by A. Philip Randolf, a long-time friend, despite criticism coming from other activist leaders such as Roy Wilkins. For his work on the march, Rustin was nick-named by Randolf as "Mr. March-on-Washington".

From 1965 until his death in 1987 Rustin was active in the A. Philip Randolf Institute as President and then later as Co-Chairman. He was dedicated to Black worker unionization, racial equality, and economic justice.

During the following years Rustin was increasingly active in supporting world-wide Human Rights campaigns. He continued to promote non-violent change and went on many political missions across the world.

In 1982 Bayard Rustin and his partner Walter Naegle did something amazing. As gay marriage was illegal at the time, and not even a consideration by most, Rustin instead adopted Naegle to ensure he would inherit Rustin's estate after death. While maybe not the first couple to do so, Rustin and Naegle became an inspiration for many others to do the same.

Further during the 1980's Rustin advocated for equality bills. He spoke to the National Association of Black and White Men Together, connecting the efforts of the Civil Rights movement and the LGBT community; lobbied for New York to add and defend protection from discrimination on basis of sexual orientation; wrote to the New York mayor in defense of the NY Gay Rights Bill; and was featured in The Advocate that confronting racism and division in LGBT activism was necessary for an integrated "Beloved Community".

In 1987, Rustin died to a perforated appendix during surgery.

In 2013, President Barak Obama awarded him posthumously the Presidential Medal of Honor. It was presented to Naegle, Rustin's surviving partner. Obama is quoted referring to Rustin as "an unyielding activist for civil rights, dignity & equality for all" and that Rustin "fought tirelessly for marginalized communities at home & abroad".

In 2020, Rustin was officially pardoned for his 1953 conviction in which he was arrested for having sex with two men.

Masterpost - References in Notes

Part 2

Part Three

Part Four

[serafina-rose-writes]

[blackfemmecharacterdependency]

Yinka Olorunnife

Tumblr Content Creators, put her on the site. Put her on this website. Put her on Tumblr. Feature her in content. Put her up here.

[krystaljasper]

Louise Jenkins born May 8th,1923 in New York. Jenkins died October10,2023 in New York. Louise Jenkins Meriwether was a important black activist a novelist and a biographer also a Journalist and essayist. As well as a writer where she wrote biographies of historically important African Americans for children. One of her books she wrote was Daddy was a number Runner in (1970).

[neshatriumphs]

While we loving on Sheryl Lee Ralph, I’d also like to remind y’all that she’s an advocate for people with AIDS and founded the DIVA Foundation for that purpose!

[blackqueernotables]

Charlene Carruthers: founding member of Black Youth Project 100; Activist and author.

[ithedondon20]

Day 25 of Black History Month and I’m honoring the incredible Stacey Abrams. She is an American politician, lawyer, voting rights activist, and author who served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 2007 to 2017, serving as minority leader from 2011 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Abrams founded Fair Fight Action, an organization to address voter suppression, in 2018. Her efforts have been widely credited with boosting voter turnout in Georgia, including in the 2020 presidential election, where Joe Biden won the state, and in Georgia's 2020–21 U.S. Senate election and special election, which gave Democrats control over the Senate. In 2021, Abrams was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts in the 2020 election