Bayard Rustin (1912-1987)

Beginning in the 1940s, Rustin spearheaded efforts to dismantle racial discrimination and segregation laws in the U.S. using Gandhian nonviolent methods. Convinced that these tactics could transform struggles for black American liberation and equality. Rustin organized and led civil disobedience actions across the country, including many of the first freedom rides and sit-ins. These pioneering acts would become the blueprints for major racial justice campaigns that advanced groundbreaking legislation and roused the national consciousness.

When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. first emerged as a leader during the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955-56, Rustin introduced King to the foundations of nonviolent direct action. Rustin became a trusted mentor and advisor to King, and served the growing movement from behind the scenes as a strategist, writer, founder of key coalitions, and architect of major mobilizations.

In 1963, facing violent backlash and seeking a political breakthrough, movement leaders called for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and chose Rustin to be its chief organizer. Masterfully planned and orchestrated, it was the largest demonstration in the nation’s history, and was instrumental in galvanizing support for landmark federal civil rights laws.

The era and its legacy are imbued with Rustin’s vision. With his influence, nonviolent resistance became the moral and strategic cornerstone of the Civil Rights Movement.

Throughout his rich and varied life, Rustin lent his talents and expertise to a diverse array of social causes ranging from global peace to economic justice, often alongside his mentor, civil rights and labor leader A. Philip Randolph.

Rustin was an openly and unapologetically gay black man in an era of intense discrimination. It took decades for Rustin to be recognized for his central roles in numerous fights for equality and human dignity.

. This historical marker was erected in 2018. It is in New York in New York County New York