Bayard Rustin was one of the first 'freedom riders', an adviser to Dr. Martin Luther King and A. Philip Randolph, organizer of the 1963 March on Washington. Intelligent, gregarious and charismatic, Rustin was denied his place in the limelight for one reason-- he was gay. His homosexuality forced him to play a background role in landmark events in the Black struggle ... [deals] with the interplay of personal and political in the life of a complex, multi-talented essential figure in the history of American radicalism. Rustin was born in 1912 into a Pennsylvania Quaker family steeped in ideas of social justice and non-violence. He moved to Harlem during the socially and culturally tumultuous 1930s and, after a brief flirtation with the Communist Party found a more congenial home in A.J. Muste's pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation. While there, he served prison terms for resisting the draft during World War II and later for integrating interstate buses. When A. Philip Randolph, aging head of the Black labor movement, turned to the fellowship for tactical help, Rustin worked closely with him and developed a belief that the labor movement offered the best hope for Black advancement.

California Newsreel Collection

Rustin, Bayard, -- 1912-1987, African American gay men, Gay men -- United States, African American men, African American civil rights workers, African American civil rights workers, African American gay men, African American men, Gay men, United States

Singer, Bennett (director), Kates, Nancy (producer), Shepard, Robert (director of Photography), Selvern, Veronica (editor), Collins, Rhonda (editor), Griffin, B. Quincy (composer), Rustin, Bayard (performer), Dellums, Erick Todd (performer), Question Why Films (producer), Center for Independent Documentary (producer), KQED-TV (Television station : San Francisco, Calif.) (producer)

01:24:52 (HH:MM:SS)

English

adult/continuing education, higher education, college

Name	California Newsreel
Role	distributor
Telephone	415-284-7800
Address	500 Third Street, Suite #505, San Francisco, CA 94107-1875
Email	[email protected]

2002-01-01

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