Friday, March 16, 2012

Know Your LGBT History - Bayard Rustin



From the National Black Justice Coalition:

Saturday, March 17, 2012, will mark the 100th birthday of the late civil rights activist Bayard Rustin. Rustin was a proud Black gay man who was an indispensable architect of the Civil Rights Movement. His most noteworthy achievements include serving as chief organizer of the historic 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, mentoring the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and helping to form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). As an effective bridge builder across a broad range of demographics, he spent more than 60 years involved in social, racial, economic, class, labor, anti-war and other justice movements, both domestically and internationally.

However, the story of this visionary strategist and activist, who dared to live as an openly gay man during the violently homophobic 1940s, 50s, and 60s, has rarely been told in mainstream or Black media.

“Every year, during the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday we hear the iconic ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, which was delivered at the 1963 March on Washington,” says Mandy Carter, one of the founders of the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) and a current NBJC Leadership Advisory Council member. “Yet, most people do not know that Bayard Rustin, an out Black gay man, was the key organizer for that groundbreaking event. America needs to know that Bayard existed. Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and same-gender-loving people need to know that Rustin stood firm in his identity and, by his very presence, challenged others in the Civil Rights Movement to overcome homophobia.”

Carter adds, “As a young Black lesbian coming out in the mid-60s, there were no representations of out Black lesbians and gay men in the media. It would have had a profound impact on me to have had Bayard Rustin as a role model and to have known that I too could live authentically and be respected as an out Black lesbian social justice activist.”

To honor Rustin’s courage and his invaluable legacy, NBJC will spend this year celebrating the beloved “unsung hero” through its commissioned Bayard Rustin Centennial Project and in ongoing collaborations with Walter Naegle, Bayard’s surviving partner and Executor/Archivist of the Estate of Bayard Rustin. NBJC is also working with Nancy Kates and Bennett Singer, co-producers and co-directors of Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin, a biographical documentary that asserts Rustin’s significance in American history.The recipient of more than 25 awards, Brother Outsider has been screened at The United Nations, The Kennedy Center, and for Members of Congress.

To celebrate this occasion, I thought it would be appropriate to feature videos of Mr. Rustin so we can gain inspiration by this simply awesome American hero:








Past Know Your LGBT History posts:

 Know Your LGBT History - Billy Preston

Know Your LGBT History - Sylvester

 Know Your LGBT History - Billy Tipton

Know Your LGBT History - Nell Carter

Know Your LGBT History - James Baldwin

 Know Your LBGT History - Paul Winfield

Know Your LGBT History - Barbara Jordan

Know Your LGBT History - Michael Jeter

Know Your LGBT History - All in the Family and Beverly LaSalle

Know Your LGBT History - The Lion in Winter

Know Your LGBT History - Saturday Night Live and 'Schmitts Gay'

 Know Your LGBT History - Brother to Brother

Know Your LGBT History - Shameless

Know Your LGBT History - Car Wash

Know Your LGBT History - The 37th anniversary of 'Flowers of Evil'

Know Your LGBT History - The Best Way To Walk

Know Your LGBT History - The Jackal

Know Your LGBT History - A Cage Without A Key

Know Your LGBT History - In & Out

Know Your LGBT History - 'The Fabulous Gays' of Steambath

Know Your LGBT History - Bound

Know Your LGBT History - Gay characters from children's television show and movies

 Know Your LGBT History - Gay documentaries, past and present

Know Your LGBT History - The Hotel New Hampshire

Know Your LGBT History - The Crying Game

Know Your LGBT History - Set It Off

Know Your LGBT History - The Wedding Banquet

Know Your LGBT History - Bachelor Party

Know Your LGBT History - Starsky and Hutch

Know Your LGBT History - The Naked Civil Servant

 Know your LGBT History - Partners

 Know Your LGBT History - All in the Family: Cousin Liz

Know Your LGBT History - Rebecca

Know Your LGBT History - urban African-American movies

Know Your LGBT History - Charles Pierce

 Know Your LGBT History - Torch Song Trilogy

The Best of Know Your LGBT History

Know Your LGBT History - Masters of Horror - Sick Girl

 Know Your LGBT History - MadTV

 Know Your LGBT History - Gimme A Break

Know Your LGBT History - Not Another Gay Movie

Know Your LGBT History - My Beautiful Laundrette

Know Your LGBT History - The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Know Your LGBT History - I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry

Know Your LGBT History - The Gay Deceivers

 Know Your LGBT History - Reflections in a Golden Eye

Know Your LGBT History - Dynasty

 Know Your LGBT History - Milk

 Know Your LGBT History - Black Shampoo

Know Your LGBT History - Never Too Young To Die

 Know Your LGBT History - All About Eve

Know Your LGBT History - Hotel

Know Your LGBT History - The Streets of San Francisco

Know Your LGBT History - Two looks at transgender characters in films

Know Your LGBT History - Flawless

Know Your LGBT History - Mahogany

Know Your LGBT History - Beverly Hills Cop

Know Your LGBT History - Some Like It Hot

Know Your LGBT History - Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia 

Know Your LGBT History - Dirty Laundry

Know Your LGBT History - The Willie Witch Project

Know Your LGBT History - Spartacus

Know Your LGBT History - Caged

Know Your LGBT History - The Birdcage

Know Your LGBT History - Maude

Know Your LGBT History - That Certain Summer

Know Your LGBT History - Boat Trip

Know Your LGBT History - Staircase

Know Your LGBT History - Beautiful Thing

Know Your LGBT History - Armed and Dangerous

Know Your LGBT History - The Proud Family

Know Your LGBT History - Suddenly Last Summer

Know Your LGBT History - Gay TV Now

Know Your LGBT History - Stewardess School

Know Your LGBT History - Up the Academy

Know Your LGBT History - Don't be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood

Know Your LGBT History - A Different Story

Know Your LGBT History - Victim

Know Your LGBT History - The Color Purple

Know Your LGBT History - Making Love

Know Your LGBT History - A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge

Know Your LGBT History - Noah's Arc

Know Your LGBT History - Adorable Adrian Adonis

Know Your LGBT History - The Night Strangler

Know Your LGBT History - All in the Family

Know Your LGBT History - Tongues Untied

Know Your LGBT History - The Celluloid Closet

Know Your LGBT History - Querelle

Know Your LGBT History - Theatre of Blood

Know Your LGBT History - Strange Fruit

Know Your LGBT History - Designing Women

Know Your LGBT History - The Children's Hour

Know Your LGBT History - Sylvester

Know Your LGBT History - Once Bitten

Know Your LGBT History - The Boys in the Band

Know Your LGBT History - Christopher Morley, the crossdressing assassin

Know Your LGBT History - Midnight Cowboy

Know Your LGBT History - Dracula's Daughter

Know Your LGBT History - Blacula

Know Your LGBT History - 3 Strikes

Know Your LGBT History - Paris Is Burning

Know Your LGBT History - The Women

Know your LGBT History - Soul Plane

Know Your LGBT History - The Player's Club

Special Know Your LGBT History - Fame

Know Your LGBT History - Welcome Home, Bobby

Know Your LGBT History - Barney Miller

Know your lgbt history - The Jerry Springer Show

Know your lgbt history - Martin Lawrence and that 'gay guy' on his show

Know your lgbt history - The Ricki Lake Show

Know your lgbt history - Which Way Is Up

Know your lgbt history - Gays in Primetime Soaps

Know your lgbt history - Boys Beware

Know your lgbt history - The Boondocks

Know your lgbt history - Mannequin

Know your lgbt history - The Warriors

Know Your LGBT History - New York Undercover

Know Your LGBT History - Low Down Dirty Shame

Know Your LGBT History - Fortune and Men's Eyes

Know your lgbt history - California Suite

Know your lgbt history - Taxi (Elaine's Strange Triangle)

Know your lgbt history - Come Back Charleston Blue

Know your lgbt history - James Bond goes gay

Know your lgbt history - Windows

Know your lgbt history - To Wong Foo and Priscilla

Know your lgbt history - Blazing Saddles

Know your lgbt history - Sanford and Son

Know your lgbt history - In Living Color

Know your lgbt history - Cleopatra Jones and her lesbian drug lords

Know your lgbt history - Norman, Is That You?

Know your lgbt history - The 'Exotic' Adrian Street

Know your lgbt history - The Choirboys

Know your lgbt history - Eddie Murphy

Know your lgbt history - The Killing of Sister George

Know your lgbt history - Hanna-Barbera cartoons pushes the 'gay agenda

'Know your lgbt history - Cruising

Know your lgbt history - Foxy Brown and Cleopatra Jones

Know your lgbt history - I Got Da Hook Up

Know your lgbt history - Fright Night

Know your lgbt history - Flowers of Evil

The Jeffersons and the transgender community   









Bookmark and Share

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for reminding your readers about this amazing man. He did so much.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Linnea10:52 AM

    He was indeed one of our country's unsung heroes.

    There is a biography of Rustin out there. I think it's called "Lost Prophet," though I don't know the author's name off the top of my head.

    ReplyDelete