Celebrating Black History Month | Bayard Rustin
“We need, in every community, a group of angelic troublemakers.”
- Bayard Rustin
This week, we continue our Black History Month series where we are highlighting Black LGBTQ+ individuals from current and recent history who continue to inspire us as LGBTQ+ Christians. Taking a look at how we as people of faith can continue to learn from their stories, passions, and work as we learn new ways to be in community with and for one another even in the midst of challenging times.
Today, we're celebrating and highlighting Bayard Rustin, who was a prominent civil rights activist known for his key role in organizing the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. As an openly gay man, he was a pioneer in advocating for both racial equality and LGBTQ+ rights, blending his commitment to nonviolence with a vision for social justice.
We invite you to continue reading to learn more about Bayard Rustin!
Bayard Rustin was a prominent civil rights activist known for his key role in organizing the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. However, you may not have heard of him in this work because he was kept in the shadows due to his sexuality.
Born in Pennsylvania in 1912, Bayard was influenced by his grandparents’ faith as Quakers. Since Quakers hold non-violence as a part of their faith, Bayard incorporated those values into his entire life's work to the point that he was sent to federal prison in 1944 for refusing to join the draft in World War II. While in prison he spent time organizing other inmates to help end segregation rules. After three years in prison, he was released and wasted no time joining a group of white and Black people who were traveling through several southern states challenging the new federal rules which stated that buses traveling on the interstate did not need to be segregated. However, not everyone was excited with this experiment and Bayard found himself serving 30 days in a chain gang after local law enforcement found a loophole in the federal rules.
Once he was released, he moved to New York and wrote about the hardships and cruelty from his experience in the chain gang that went on to be published and helped lead to the end of chain gangs for the next 60 years.
After this work, Bayard found himself visiting India and studying nonviolent resistance under Mahatmas Gandhi. These studies built upon his faith and helped further solidify his work in nonviolent actions such as sit-ins, marches, hunger strikes, boycotts, picketing, and more. Bayard believed this was the only way to win equality for Black Americans and that those who believed in wanting change needed to become troublemakers for the greater good. He found that the way to make change was to peacefully disrupt the status quo by being physical presences in places that they were told they were not allowed to be.
Upon returning to the United States, Bayard became involved with the larger Civil Rights Movement and worked with Dr. King and convinced him that nonviolent acts were an ideology that could work for the Civil Rights Movement. It is reported that Bayard became a trusted advisor to Dr. King but many others questioned his role in the movement because he was gay. Hidden in the shadows, Bayard planned The March on Washington in only eight weeks, taking care of the things that most people would overlook in planning an event as large as it became.
Bayard Rustin died in 1987. In 2013, 50 years after The March on Washington, President Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is the highest honor a civilian can receive. Bayard’s partner of 10 years, Walter Naegle, accepted the award on Bayard’s behalf.
Today, we are honored to highlight Bayard Rustin, and in highlighting him, we hope to keep his story alive and bring him out of the shadows that he was once kept in. Additionally, we are thankful for how Bayard has shown us how to be “angelic troublemakers” within our communities as we continue to march for the rights of our time. We are thankful for Bayard Rustin’s work and contributions to the LGBTQ+ community and celebrate all of who he is!
