Bayard Rustin (17 March 1912- 24 August 1987) was a social and civil rights activist. However unlike many civil rights activists and advocates of the time, Rustin believed in a pacific combination of the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi, African-American socialism and the peaceful culture and staidness that formed such a big part of the Quaker belief system.

This is evinced by the fact that Rustin was actually a central figure where Martin Luther’s 1963 ‘I have A Dream’ speech- one of the most iconic civil rights speeches in the world, is concerned. Not only did he attend this speech but he was also involved with Martin Luther King where the Ride to Freedom Challenge in 1947 is concerned. The challenge took place in order to reverse the legalized racial segregation that commonly took place on American buses in the 50s.

Other than that, Rustin was also a strong advocate of homosexuality which at the time was not just condemned in terms of the physical act; the very subject was taboo in the 1950s with gays being referred to as ‘sexual deviants’. Against this backdrop of homophobia and the onslaught of so-called ‘educational’ videos that promoted the criminalization of homosexuals, broke forth Rustin’s ideas.

Where Martin Luther King was at one point was at one point, fearful of being implicated in a sexual scandal with Rustin, Rustin simply declared that it was time to quit running away from things and deal with them head-on; a bold statement in the mid-twentieth century when most psychiatrists still referred to homosexuality as a mental illness.

Rustin also believed that the time had arisen for the empowerment of the African-American and that the right way to do so was to involve the native African-American in the practices of the labor party which would also explain the march he took part in, in England in 1963.

The 1950s was the time when the empowerment of not just black people, but African-Americans also began. As the champion of minorities’ rights, Rustin stated that they were now in an era where

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