Martin Luther King Rustin Bayard: Civil Rights Activist

The world plagued with discrimination between race, gender, and sexuality, Rustin Bayard came into play during the 20th century to try and stop it. Albeit there still being major discrimination today, he did make in impact within many people during that period. Rustin is a civil rights activist during the early and middle of the 20th century. Ever since his death in 1987, many have tried to erase his name from being a well-known civil rights lion because of his sexual orientation, so to celebrate Black History Month and to stop his legacy from fading, we should remember this great man and his achievements. Rustin is commonly known for being Martin Luther King Junior’s advisor during the 1950s through 1960s. He met King during the 50s, and

Growing up in a particularly homophobic, racist and sexist era, his voice and actions was and still is inspirational. During World War II, he refused to register for the draft and was imprisoned for two years. In 1947, he was arrested for taking part in a protest for the segregated public transit system, which led his sentence to be working on a chain gang for a couple of weeks. In 1953, he was once again arrested for morals charge for engaging in homosexual activities publicly, and was sent to jail for 60 days. However this may discourage some, Rustin continued to be openly gay and still speak out about his beliefs. He was an expert organizer for human rights protests by the 1950s. In 1958, his role was coordinating a march in Aldermaston, England that demonstrated against nuclear weapons (10,000 people attended this march). He was in many other organizations that spoke out or protested for civil rights, such as one he co-founded with A. Philip Randolph in 1965, the A. Philip Randolph Institute. This was a labor organization for African-American trade union members. After, Rustin still continued his work with civil rights and peace movements, being much in demand as a public speaker for such protests. Bayard Rustin was an African American civil rights activist, helping organize many of Martin Luther King Jr.’s boycotts and marches, speaking out against what many would consider immoral (ex. nuclear bombs), and organized protests against discrimination between races, gender and sexual orientation. An inspiration for many, especially the LGBTQ+ community, by just being openly gay in such a homophobic era. His legacy should be remembered, and many other African Americans, for Black History Month is for remembrance of important African American