When was bayard rustin born

In front of W St. The idea for the march again came from A. Philip Randolph, who wondered if younger activists were giving short shrift to economic issues as they pushed for desegregation in the South. In , he recruited Rustin, and the two began making plans, this time to commemorate the centennial of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

In May , the nation gasped as Birmingham police under the notorious commissioner Bull Connor turned fire-hoses and attack dogs on children. Their challenges were manifold: Unite feuding civil rights leaders, fend off opposition from Southern segregationists who opposed civil rights fend off opposition from Northern liberals who advocated a more cautious approach and figure out the practical logistics of the demonstration itself.

The whole time Rustin feared interference from the Washington police and the FBI; it came from the Senate floor three weeks before kickoff when Strom Thurmond of South Carolina attacked Rustin personally.

Tensions in every direction persisted. We will march through the South, through the Heart of Dixie, the way Sherman did. The quarrel continued up the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Before then, the marchers had to know how to get there — which brings us back to our bus captains. Imagine being one, scrambling over last-minute details, reading the now famous Organizing Manual No.

Want to teach your children what the march was all about? The march itself, of course, turned out to be a tremendous success, including those glorious moments when the official estimate of , was announced actually, there was as many as ,, says Life.

And perhaps the most poignant statement of the power of nonviolence was that there were only four arrests, Taylor Branch writes in The King Years , all of them of white people. Rustin remained out of sight, though he and Randolph did make it onto the cover of Life Sept. Eight days later, four young girls went to their deaths in the Birmingham church bombing ; in November, President Kennedy was gunned down, leaving President Lyndon Johnson to shuttle the Civil Rights Act through Congress, signing it in , the same year Dr.

King received the Nobel Prize, with Rustin planning the logistics of his trip to Oslo. It was, to say the least, history at its most dramatic, shocking — and unpredictable — at every turn. While launching the A. He also alienated antiwar activists when he failed to call for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Vietnam and cautioned Dr. King against speaking out in his famous speech attacking the war delivered at Riverside Church. Increasingly, it seemed, Rustin took or refrained from taking positions that put him at odds with a movement he had once so fundamentally helped to shape.

Despite tensions with other black activists, Rustin remained engaged in the struggle for justice. When Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn. At the same time, he expanded his focus on international causes, including offering support to Israel, promoting free elections in Central America and Africa and aiding refugees as vice chairman of the International Rescue Committee. That is no longer true. In he was arrested on a morals charge for publicly engaging in homosexual activity and was sent to jail for 60 days; however, he continued to live as an openly gay man.

By the s, Rustin was an expert organizer of human rights protests. In , he played an important role in coordinating a march in Aldermaston, England, in which 10, attendees demonstrated against nuclear weapons. Rustin met the young civil rights leader Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr. He taught King about Gandhi's philosophy of non-violent resistance and advised him on the tactics of civil disobedience. He assisted King with the boycott of segregated buses in Montgomery, Alabama in Most famously, Rustin was a key figure in the organization of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, at which King delivered his legendary "I Have a Dream" speech on August 28, In , Rustin and his mentor Randolph co-founded the A.

Philip Randolph Institute, a labor organization for African American trade union members. Rustin continued his work within the civil rights and peace movements, and was much in demand as a public speaker. Rustin received numerous awards and honorary degrees throughout his career. His writings about civil rights were published in the collection Down the Line in and in Strategies for Freedom in He continued to speak about the importance of economic equality within the Civil Rights Movement, as well as the need for social rights for gays and lesbians.

In he was beaten by police officers in Nashville, Tennessee after refusing to sit in the back of a bus. During the WW II draft, he refused to serve and went to prison to make a statement in support of pacifism.

In this well-organized protest, sixteen black and white individuals rode busses through the South refusing to sit in segregated seating.

Rustin and others were arrested in North Carolina and sentenced to a chain gang. He wrote about his experiences for the New York Post , which helped expose the injustices of chain gangs.

He helped organize the Montgomery bus boycotts to end segregated seating. Martin Luther King, Jr. In fact, many credit him with teaching Dr. King the Gandhian non-violence methods that became King's trademark. What Rustin is most remembered for, however, is his role in organizing the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Rustin's responsibility was to coordinate and oversee logistics for this massive event - from the speeches, security, and slogans to tracking busses and procuring 80, ham and cheese sandwiches for the crowds.

Around , people packed the Washington D. King's "I Have a Dream" speech. The March was considered an enormous success and a week later, Rustin's image graced the cover of Life magazine. Through the s, Rustin remained active through the A. Philip Randolph Institute, which focused on interconnected labor and civil rights issues. He traveled the world, visiting various countries to expose injustices and support peaceful protest.

But even after all of his international success, Rustin remembered his roots. In , he spoke at the West Chester Community Center to citizens concerned about unequal treatment for African American students in the school system.

He returned in to help organize fair housing protests in West Chester. Controversy followed Rustin throughout his career.