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Bayard Rustin
Who was Bayard Rustin?:
Bayard Rustin was born on March 17,
1912, to Florence Rustin, one of eight children of Julia and
Janifer Rustin of West Chester Pennsylvania. In 1937 he moved
to New York City and enrolled in the City college of New York,
although he never received a degree. It was at this time that
Rustin began to organize for the Young Communist League of City
College. The communists’ progressive stance on the issue of
racial injustice appealed to him, although he began to be
disillusioned with them after the Communist Party’s abrupt
about-face on the issue of segregation in the American military
in the wake of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. In 1953,
Rustin was arrested for public indecency in Pasadena, California
while lecturing under the auspices of the American Association
of University Women. It was the first time that Rustin’s
homosexuality had come into public attention, and at that time
homosexual behavior in all states was a criminal offense.
Although the gay rights movement in the United States was still
many years in the future, Rustin’s conviction and his relatively
open attitude about his homosexuality set the stage for him to
become an elder gay icon in the decades to come. Although faced
with vicious racism from some of the prison guards and white
prisoners, Rustin faced frequent cruelty with courage and
nonviolent resistance. Bayard Rustin was an indispensable
unsung force behind the movement towards equality for America’s
black citizens, and more largely for the rights of humans around
the globe. Courtesy of: Suite101.com
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