Today's Blacks seem to remember only Civil Rights leaders that have gained notoriety from the media or of their popularity. I have no reason to discredit any of the contributions or efforts black leaders have made to obtain equality. Unfortunately, we have allowed ourselves to reduce the contributions for some, which in many ways were the forerunners of the entire movement that dates as far back as the beginning of the Second World War.

My thoughts about any Civil Rights leader is that some of them were never given the chance to get their contributions printed in the ledgers because of prejudice and personal convictions. Not racial prejudice, but the very narrow-mindedness the movement fought to end.

So this is a concise collection of information about a man who has been forgotten, probably on purpose because of his personal lifestyle (being gay) though he was the spark that started the flame for many black leaders, so here we have some of the information from his biography.

Bayard Rustin was a black man born in 1912 and who grew up in West Chester Pennsylvania. Regardless of my convictions about him being gay or his sexual preference, I believe he should have gotten much recognition for his work as other black leaders during that time. He was the field representative for CORE, Congress of Racial Equality.

Mister Rustin was a fighter, not only for blacks in this country but he also fought abroad against Britain's rule over Africa and India for their independence. He also helped to organize the committee to support South African resistance in the 1951-American Committee on Africa.

He made America aware of the circumstances of the Haitian refugees and the Vietnamese boat people. He was an active member in the Fellowship of Reconciliation movement, FOR on behalf of Japanese American's imprisoned in camps during the war.

Because of his protest against the 2nd world war regarding black soldiers, he served 3 years in the federal penitentiary. Later he was influence to actively take part in a protest that had been provoked by one of the Supreme Court decisions in 1946 outlawing discrimination in interstate travel.

Under the sponsorship of FOR and CORE, he planned the first protest that caused many to be beaten, arrested and jailed. In fact, mister Rustin spent 22 days on the chain gang. He also formed the RTF recruitment and training program to increase minority participation in the building and construction trades.

Mister Rustin was active long before Malcolm X or Martin Luther King Jr. In fact, it was his philosophy of non-violence to America that he adopted from Gandhi. Few blacks would know he was the chief organizer and deputy director of the 1963 march on Washington that allowed Martin Luther King Jr. to give his "I Have a Dream", speech.

Although this information about Bayard Rustin isn't as extensive as his life was, maybe his politics, being gay or his early affiliation with the communists party - he later separated from - have caused him to become the forgotten man. But his dedication and concern for all people who were suffering from transgressions kept him actively involved in trying to correct these wrongs until his death in 1987.

Sources: books and articles

Anderson, Jervis Bayard Rustin Trouble I've seen, N.Y. Harper Collins Pub. 1997

Collins, Elliott Bayard Rustin A civil rights biography
PhD dissertation program in America N.Y. University, 2000

D'Emilio, John "Lost Prophet" N.Y. The free press, 2003

Selected websites: The blackstripe: list of noted gay and lesbian people of African decent

Submitted by T. Duffy staff writer

© 2004 by Afromerica