#Bayard Rustin: A Legacy of Protest and Politics

[queerliblib]

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[blackownersseekingsuccess]

Remembering Bayard Rustin: The Unsung Hero of the Civil Rights Movement

written by Levi Wise Kenneth Catoe Jr.

August 1, 2024 - Growing up as a Black boy in Paterson, NJ, and attending Roman and Irish Catholic Parochial schools, Black history was not very familiar to me. I grew up in a religious Southern Baptist family and participated in the church choir. In this context, Martin Luther King, Jr., was all that I knew about Black history until I became a teenage Madonna fanatic. Ironically, Madonna made me aware of Black activists and radicals such as Nina Simone, Jean-Michel Basquiat, James Baldwin, and Bayard Rustin. Bayard Rustin was an African American activist who believed in civil disobedience. Rustin felt that Black people should deliberately break unjust laws but do it non-violently to bring about change and this would play a key role in the Civil Rights movement. He also advocated for LGBTQ rights. Rustin moved to Harlem in 1937 and began studying at City College of New York. It’s interesting to note that at the time CCNY was an all-male college once regarded as ‘Jewish Harvard’ which did not accept Black men—Rustin was an unusual exception. While Rustin was at CCNY he became involved in efforts to defend and free the Scottsboro Boys, nine young black men in Alabama who were accused of raping two white women. Activism for Rustin was something that came naturally. He later became a mentor to Martin Luther King.

Rustin is one of my all-time idols. I have been enamored of him since I learned about him, so I was excited to attend an event dedicated to his life and legacy at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, “Between the Lines: Bayard Rustin, A Legacy of Protest and Politics.” The event was a conversation between Michael G. Long and Jafari Allen, who edited the book of the same name. Their exchange sparked many revelations and I left the event more aware than when I entered. I felt so much pity for the life that Rustin had to live, including the attack on his character that was rallied against him by other Black people and the distance that Martin Luther King placed between himself and Rustin out of fear of people assuming that he was also gay. I also learned that it was Coretta Scott King who introduced King to Rustin. Scott-King met Rustin during her college years as a fellow activist who practiced civil disobedience. She would ultimately introduce her husband King to civil disobedience tactics. Rustin recalled that his first time meeting King he was strapped with a handgun and that he never traveled without his gun. It was Rustin who told King that if he represented civil disobedience he would have to be willing to put away his firearm, which eventually he did. Nevertheless, this raises the question, who was King really? The “I Have A Dream” pacifist or the “Beyond Vietnam” radical? We will never truly know.

All in all what I did learn was that according to Rustin, King had no idea how to organize an event. Instead, it was Rustin who developed the blueprint for King’s early Civil Rights movement, at least until the day that King removed Rustin from his inner circle.

Nevertheless, Rustin returned to organize the March on Washington, despite everything leveled against him by Adam Clayton Powel and Roy Wilkins. Someone noted during the discussion that “it’s funny how karma works given the fact that nobody remembers Wilkins's legacy in comparison to the sudden interest in Rustin.'' If I remember correctly, the comment was made by the moderator, NYU professor Dr. Jarafi Allen, based on the fact that the venue was standing room only, or that the Hollywood lens is now fixated on Rustin’s story, with an Academy Award-nominated movie based upon his life currently in theaters. Wilkins has not received the same interest from Hollywood, perhaps indicating that he is less marketable in the mainstream. Meanwhile, Rustin’s role as an activist for the LGTBQ community is also important for newer generations. Until recently, this legacy and all that he accomplished was invisible, but he has since become a symbol of the “others” and most notably the “forgotten others”. While in his lifetime he was shunned, rallied against, and betrayed by those that he benefitted, history has allowed his legacy the final word.

[rebeleden]

New book looks beyond 'Mr. March on Washington' to the real Bayard Rustin

RIP GAY ICON BR

[expendablemudge]

Tomorrow is pub day for BAYARD RUSTIN: A Legacy of Protest and Politics, edited by Michael G. Long via NYU Press!

My #BookRecommendation is here: https://expendablemudge.blogspot.com/2023/09/bayard-rustin-legacy-of-protest-and.html

[californiastatelibrary]

Nearly 70 years ago, civil rights leader Bayard Rustin was arrested, served 50 days in Los Angeles County jail, and had to register as a sex offender with the state due to a charge of “vagrancy” after he was seen being intimate with two men in a parked car. In 2020, Rustin was posthumously pardoned by Governor Gavin Newsom.

Rustin was close to Martin Luther King Jr., was an organizer of the 1963 march on Washington, and assisted with other nonviolent protests and boycotts for civil rights.

From the official pardon: “California, like much of the nation, has a disgraceful legacy of systematically discriminating against the LGBTQ community. This discrimination has taken many forms including social isolation and shaming, surveillance, intimidation, physical violence, and unjust arrest and prosecution. Mr. Rustin was sentenced pursuant to a charge commonly used to punish gay men for engaging in consensual adult sexual conduct. His conviction is part of a long and reprehensible history of criminal prohibitions on the very existence of LGBTQ people and their intimate associations and relationships. … Mr. Rustin was criminalized because of stigma, bias, and ignorance. With this act of executive clemency, I acknowledge the inherent injustice of this conviction, an injustice that was compounded by his political opponents' use of the record of this case to try to undermine him, his associates, and the civil rights movement.”

[rayosupplyco]

Bayard Rustin: 1912-1987

Rustin pictured here with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Monroe Frederick / Courtesy of the estate of Bayard Rustin) Less well-known than his contemporary Martin Luther King Jr., Bayard Rustin was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s & 60s. 

Rustin, an openly gay black man best known for his beliefs in peaceful protest, was a key adviser and strategist to King, espousing the tactics of non-violent protest of Mahatma Ghandi and the pacifism of the American Quakers. He believed in fighting for rights through civil disobedience and taught these methods to Dr. King.

Part of his personal philosophy was also the brand of socialism practiced by African American labor leader A. Philip Randolph, who was best known for fighting for equal labor rights in Black American communities. Randolph eventually formed the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first Black labor Union in the United States. His work later went on to end (legal & formal ) segregation of the armed forces.

A close disciple of Randolph, Rustin co-founded an African American trade union workers organization called the A. Philip Randolph Institute in 1965.Apart from being a key player in the Civil Rights movement, he (along with Mr. Randolph) was one of the key organizers of the 1963 March On Washington, that set the stage for MLK’s famous “I Have A Dream” speech. 

Throughout his career Rustin remained mostly behind the scenes as an influencer (can you imagine what his Instagram account could do right now?!?!) and organizer due to the criticism he faced by being an openly gay man.He organized the New York City school boycott of 1964 and in 1972 became the national co-chairman of the Socialist Party of America, which voted to change their name to the Social Democrats, USA later that same year (so it’s been a thing for awhile!).

Anti-communist and generally pro-peaceful resolution, Rustin opposed US intervention in the Vietnam War as well as Soviet and Cuban involvement in the Angolan Civil War, noting a particular imperial interest of white forces in Africa.Though his later career consisted of many speaking engagements, and a more public political life, Rustin did not have a huge role in the Gay Rights Movement of the 1980s, though he did testify in 1986 on behalf of New York State's Gay Rights Bill. 

Asked to add to the book In the Life: A Black Gay Anthology, Rustin decided not  to contributed, responding with the following: “I was not involved in the struggle for gay rights as a youth... I did not "come out of the closet" voluntarily—circumstances forced me out. While I have no problem with being publicly identified as homosexual, it would be dishonest of me to present myself as one who was in the forefront of the struggle for gay rights... I fundamentally consider sexual orientation to be a private matter. As such, it has not been a factor which has greatly influenced my role as an activist.” Reflection: 

I had never heard of Mr. Rustin - though I sure am glad I did. I found him difficult to research and write about - perhaps because of life stuff going on right now, of which there is a lot! 

I think, though, I have found it difficult mostly because his life - while sprinkled with arrests for civil disobedience and homosexuality - was one of support and activism rather than one of tragedy and violence. 

His legacy is of hope and of persistence and of doing the next right thing, on a public and personal level.I think that in this country it is easier for us to be interested in a story that is extreme. 

And I think that is especially true of white people’s interest in Black stories.

Something for me to ponder on further… Sources Used: https://www.biography.com/activist/bayard-rustin, https://www.biography.com/activist/a-philip-randolph, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayard_Rustin

STAY SAFE. STAY SANE. STAY ANTI-RACIST. BLACK LIVES MATTER.

[cincinnatusvirtue]

Martin Luther King (1929-1968): America’s best known activist in the African-American Civil Rights struggle.

Martin Luther King was born January 15th, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia born as Martin J. King Jr.  His father Martin Sr. was a Baptist minister in Georgia and his mother Alberta Williams King was a minister’s daughter herself.  King was born into the midst of what was known as the Jim Crow South, the post Civil War era set of laws in the Southern United States that legalized segregation of citizens along racial grounds and effectively disenfranchised African-Americans.  These laws continued the discrimination and legacy of racism that most African-Americans had experienced since slavery had been introduced on the American continent centuries before.  The laws were passed by Democratic majorities in the South and while initially in the aftermath of the Civil War in the Reconstruction era, members of the Republican party that dominated the Northern states tried to pass laws that would have limited Jim Crow’s effects, the combination of divisions within the moderate and radical wings of the Republican Party, voter intimidation, Northern racism, political corruption and a sort of national desire to “move on” effectively allowed the Jim Crow laws to take hold and exist for the following century.

King grew up with white friends until the start of elementary school when segregation in schools separated them.  Segregation and second-class citizenry in the American South was a daily reality for King and most African-Americans.  African-Americans had to attend separate schools, churches, could not vote unless certain standards such as literacy tests were met and had to use alternate entrances in places of public accommodation, ride buses in segregated fashion and couldn’t even drink from the same water fountains in some instances.  Jim Crow took on various forms in depending where one lived in the South and discrimination and racist tension was prevalent in the North as well.  The 1896 US Supreme Court decision in Plessy vs. Ferguson upheld the doctrine of “separate but equal” for many government institutions effectively legalizing segregation.

King though occasionally physically disciplined by his father did come to admire his father’s standing up to segregation and was an inspiration on King growing up.  King himself admitted to feelings of resentment towards whites as a teenager.  Despite King’s own occasional doubts about religion and a lifelong struggle with self-doubt and depression, he like his father would go to seminary school in the hopes of becoming a Baptist minister as he saw the church as the way to answer what he called an “inner urge to serve humanity.”   King was known in high school as great orator early as part of the debate team, he also was a student with good enough grades to skip 9th and 12th grades.  In college he attended first Morehouse College in Atlanta, a traditionally black male college and later the Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania from which he would graduate in 1951.

While at Crozer, King was briefly romantically linked to a cafeteria worker from Germany and even contemplated marrying her.  However, he was discouraged by family and friends on the grounds that an interracial marriage, especially in the South would upset both whites and blacks.  As a result of these pressures, King called off the relationship, though he was reportedly quite depressed over it.  Later, King would meet his future wife, Coretta Scott.  Coretta was from Alabama, the daughter of the descendants of former slaves.  Her father was a business owner police man at various times.  Her mother helped in the family business of running a general store and a lumber mill but also worked as a school bus driver and pianist in the local church.  Coretta herself had aspirations of a being a musician and was attending school at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston when through a mutual friend she met King.  She was initially hesitant to date him but continued after his persistence in pursuing her, they would marry in 1953.  She initially had wanted a career in music but largely sacrificed it to help her husband pursue his own career in the ministry and to raise their family and the subsequent Civil Rights cause that was to become the main cause of their lives together. 

September 1st, 1954 saw King become the new minister at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.  In 1955 the Kings had their first child, a daughter, Yolanda.  They would go on to have 3 more, Dexter, Martin Luther III and Bernice.  1955 also saw two incidents that would help spur the Civil Rights movement.  In Montgomery, public buses allowed bus drivers the authority to assign seating and since all drivers were white that meant black citizens effectively either had to ride in the back of the bus or give up their seat to a white citizen upon request, to refuse would risk a fine and and/or arrest.  The buses at the time had 75% usage by black citizens of the city.  In March of that year a teenager by the name of Claudette Colvin was arrested after refusing to give up her seat to make room for a white woman on the bus.  The incident was largely kept under wraps.  In December, most famously NAACP secretary Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat and was arrested and fined.

King was made a local leader in the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) which was founded by local black ministers.  Upon taking up the cause of Rosa Parks case a boycott of Montgomery buses was launched.  A combination of refusal to ride buses and instead provide taxi and carpool services for the African-American community ultimately lead to economic hardship for the city.  The boycott worked and de-segregation of the buses and the hiring of black bus drivers was allowed.  This helped raise awareness of the Civil Rights movement in general and made Martin Luther King the best known name for the Civil Rights movement henceforth.  Though there were signs of a backlash and the violence that was to shadow King’s life thereafter.  A shotgun was fired through the front door of the King home, a fellow minister’s home was bombed, black teenagers were beaten in a number of instances and even white Montgomery citizens who sided with the MIA and Rosa Parks had their own homes bombed.  Furthermore, the city in some other ways reinforced segregation and Rosa Parks ultimately had to leave the city due to death threats.  By the early 60′s blacks were still de-facto having to ride in the back of buses even if the law didn’t require it.  However, King’s resolve to undertake the cause of Civil Rights was not undone and only increased as a result of these setbacks.

1957 saw King along with other ministers form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).  King was to lead this organization until his death and it would become central in the subsequent Civil Rights movement.  He befriended white evangelist preacher, Billy Graham and took inspiration from Graham’s evangelical “crusades”.  King sought to use the SCLC to push forth a message of nonviolent protest in the service of advancing African-American Civil Rights.  King was further inspired by the success of India’s independence movement and its commitment to nonviolence, namely through its spiritual leader, Mahatma Gandhi, he even later visited India to seek inspiration from this source..  King began giving sermons and placing them in written form to push this message of nonviolence coupled with advancement of Civil Rights.  Gradually, his sermons namely “What is Man?” caught the attention of the nation and the world at large.  King began to take on many individual cases as ways to highlight the need for changes to legislation in federal law to overcome Jim Crow’s legal power.

King continued to make speeches and organize marches in the coming years, he was notably involved in the Albany movement to desegregate Albany, Georgia in 1961 and famously the Birmingham, Alabama and Selma, Alabama campaigns of 1963 and 1964 to desegregate and assist in gaining African-Americans their legal voting rights.  During this time, King and other black leadership in the country tried to work with then newly elected President John F. Kennedy to author what many called a “Second Emancipation Proclamation” in reference to Abraham Lincoln’s 1862 Executive Order declaring slaves in Confederate states freed during the Civil War.  Kennedy for his part appeared sympathetic if not particularly activist on the issue of Civil Rights.  King was also during this time the focus of FBI surveillance under the direction of then US Attorney General Robert Kennedy, President Kennedy’s brother.  King’s movements were detailed and phone calls wiretapped.  He also was sent threatening letters, not officially from the government but later linked to.  The supposed motive for monitoring King was his association with known and suspected Communists who maybe using the Civil Rights movement as a front for pushing forth Communist agendas in the middle of the Cold War which the the government saw as undermining America’s domestic and foreign policy, namely his association with the former Communist and openly homosexual Bayard Rustin was problematic and King agreed to distance himself from Rustin publicly.  King continued to earn a reputation as man of overall conviction notably following his arrests for violating the laws of Birmingham, Alabama during the 1963 desegregation campaign there.  His famous Letter from Birmingham Jail written on April 16, 1963 showed this commitment in eloquent form, something that was to become a signature of King’s persona.  King felt his acts of civil disobedience and that of the nonviolent Civil Rights movement were in accordance with American ideals, namely the Boston Tea Party and other acts of the American Revolution.  Citing them as necessary acts to deliver freedom even if they were illegal in the eyes of unjust laws.  King also demonstrated a belief in racial unity, stating that failure to come together against Jim Crow laws would not only legally segregate white and black Americans but lead to national disharmony and permanent segregation of Americans on communal and national lines.

King’s perhaps most memorable moment came on August 28, 1963 in the now famous March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.  Here King in the shadows of the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument in Washington DC gave what many regard as not only his most eloquent and passionate speech but one of America’s most eloquent oratories ever, the so called “I Have a Dream Speech” where King lashed out at racism and the injustice that Americans experienced solely for the color of their skin.  The speech not only listed the grievances of African-American community but envisioned optimistically that America would one day live up to its founding and often espoused ideals of a welcoming community and freedom of individuality.  As a place that transcended racial bigotry where notably he stated:

“ I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today.”

The speech and march had massive press coverage and helped put the Civil Rights movement near the top of the legislative agenda.  In November of 1963, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas but his successor Lyndon B. Johnson continued with Kennedy’s hope of passing new legislation.  The Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 essentially in law achieved the effective end of much of Jim Crow laws throughout the American South and in someways achieved what many considered the high watermark of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960′s.  Though these laws initially had weak enforcement, they were great symbolic victories for the movement and subsequently would practically reinforced through subsequent laws being passed.  King however knew work was still to be done, poverty among African-Americans and racial discrimination were still in effect going into the mid and late 1960′s and King made these ongoing issues of importance in his mission.  He also began to gradually speak out against the war in Vietnam which was ongoing.  His arguments against the war were largely that it took an unfair burden on impoverished black soldiers who signed up to help their country and saw them disproportionately killed in action and their communities suffering economic hardship.  His criticism of the war earned him the ire of President Johnson who was overseeing its ongoing development and ramping up.  It also cost some support for him among union organizers and the press he was even called by some a “demagogue” .  King additionally was facing ongoing death threats from white racists at home such as the Ku Klux Klan and facing criticism from black nationalists, notably the Nation of Islam, both white and black nationalists refused to believe in racial integration and harmony and actively sought to segregate America and Americans.

Despite King’s many struggles and in many ways the deepening political divides in the country, King stayed steadfast committed to the cause of nonviolence. 1968 saw King take up the cause of African-American sanitation workers�� rights for better pay and working conditions in Memphis, Tennessee.  On April 3, 1968 he gave what would be his final speech, the so called “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” address.  In reference to a recent bomb threat it was laced with almost prophetic language:

“And then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers? Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. So I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”

At 6:01 PM on April 4, 1968 as King was standing out on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis discussing plans for a event later that night he was struck with a single bullet in the right cheek fired from across the street at a boarding house.  The bullet hit King in the cheek and lodged in his spinal cord.  He was dead within the hour, aged 39.  King’s assassin turned out to be James Earl Ray, a white supremacist with a history of crime.  Ray fled the country and was later arrested in England on a false passport, he was returned the US for trial and convicted of King’s murder.  In time, controversy over whether Ray was actually the assassin or whether it was part of a US government conspiracy to silence King for his ongoing activism against US foreign policy and advocacy for positions viewed as undermining domestic policy by some has arisen.  There are numerous conspiracy theories abounded to this day, even at least one of King’s children forgave Ray and came to believe he was not guilty.  Ray for his part changed his story to say he was coerced into confessing to the murder.  A civil case later found a conspiracy against King to have been acted upon, though the official criminal record remains unchanged stating Ray was the assassin and acted alone, motivated by his personal enmity towards King and African-Americans, he would eventually die in prison in 1998 of liver failure.

In the immediate aftermath of the King’s death many riots among the African-American community broke out across the country.  A notable exception was in Indianapolis, Indiana where former Attorney General and then US Senator from New York Robert F. Kennedy gave a speech to the African-American community on the back of a flat bed truck.  Kennedy was running for the Democratic nomination for President that year.  The very man who once authorized King’s FBI surveillance was now delivering an impromptu eulogy on his behalf.  Kennedy appealed to the crowd, stating any feelings of anger they may have was understandable but he also appealed to them with empathy through the assassination of his own brother, President Kennedy 5 years earlier.  Kennedy’s speech ultimately called for African-Americans to make the choice, seek peace, nonviolence and continue to push for a unified country as King had advocated for or give into intense feelings of rage and turn to violence.  The crowd though upset largely listened to Kennedy and no riots took place in Indianapolis that night.  Robert Kennedy for his part was assassinated by a Palestinian gunman two months later in California, citing his hatred over Kennedy’s support for the state of Israel in the wake of the Six Days War of 1967 as motivation.

King’s legacy of nonviolence and advocacy for Civil Rights was continued by many afterwards and taken in many directions henceforth.  Namely, his wife Coretta and later their children, Coretta would die in 2006 and his buried next to husband at their home in Atlanta, Georgia.  In the year’s since King’s death, he has been made into an icon for civil rights movements the world over.  People of various political persuasions and movements have co-opted his words to fit their perception of his take on their cause.  It’s ultimately speculation as to what King would have gone on to do and how he would view the world and his country in particular in the modern era.  King’s legacy overall remains strong in America’s memory even if it is viewed by some as out of touch or overly optimistic.  His memory is celebrated in part with Martin Luther King Jr. day held annually in the US on the third Monday in January.  This is celebrated as federal holiday as well as at the state and local level, signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1983 and first observed federally in January 1986.  All 50 states now honor it as a paid holiday for state workers, with South Carolina being the last to do so in 2000.

Whatever King could have gone onto to do and despite the various attempts to co-opt his name, words and legacy to various movements the world over.  I think one undeniable aspect his memory does retain and should retain is the symbolism and idealism his eloquent words held.  The hope for racial equality before the law and in social order within the United States and elsewhere is cause worth believing in and striving for, especially with a commitment to nonviolence.  In America in this day and age there is a temptation to look at its history as solely one of imperialism, violence, subjugation and supremacy, namely in the form of white supremacy.  There is another tendency to view America as having these unfortunate and terrible stains on its legacy but that the promise of American ideals of individual freedom were fundamentally good and sound ideas at their core.  Really, this discussion of two opposing views of America was an issue in King’s time and remains unresolved and in some ways is the central debate in the present American body politic.  Anybody in the present is guilty of co-opting King’s views to support their own just as much as anyone else, myself included.  Without going into much detail on my own views on the matter which for the purposes of a highlighted biography blog post aren’t particularly relevant.  I do think King’s life and his words are at the very least worth truly reflecting upon with serious and deep study if one is looking to see his own view of America in all its complexity and not just clipping a few phrases out of context for one’s benefit.   At the very least it’s what one can do to honor King and his legacy, unquestionably being given to nonviolence in search of domestic political change but also really assessing what was at the core of his beliefs and hopes for America too.

[mykidsgay]

Know Your Queer History: Activists 

Queer history was probably not included in your grade school curriculum—but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist! Part of being a good ally (that’s you, parents!) is learning about the history, hardships, and celebrations that the LGBTQ community has experienced, and remembering all the contributions made by queer folks throughout history. 

That’s why, throughout Pride month, we will be highlighting LGBTQ activists, artists, and politicians who have played powerful roles in shaping our politics, our culture, and our history. We are kicking off our short series with activists, because it is important to remember and honor Pride’s roots in radical activism. So with that in mind, check out these four inspiring activists who were pioneers of the early LGBTQ movement. 

Marsha P. Johnson, 1945-1992

Marsha P. Johnson was a black, trans, gay activist and drag queen. Johnson is perhaps most well-known for her participation in the Stonewall riots in June of 1969, where violence broke out when police raided New York City’s Stonewall Inn in an attempt to arrest the gay and transgender patrons there. The riots lasted for several days and sparked the gay rights movement where Johnson played an important role in fighting for the rights of gay and transgender people. Following the riots, Johnson joined the Gay Liberation Front, one of the first LGBTQ advocacy organizations in the U.S. She also co-founded the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (S.T.A.R.), which advocated on behalf of young trans people; helped start and run the S.T.A.R. House, a homeless shelter for gay and trans street kids; and was actively involved in ACT UP, an HIV/AIDS activist group. As a queer, poor, gender non-conforming person of color who struggled with mental illness and homelessness, Johnson’s legacy of intersectional activism within the LGBTQ community was integral to the movement, and she remains an inspiration for many activists today. 

Sylvia Rivera, 1951-2002 

Sylvia Rivera was a gay, trans, Latina social justice activist and drag queen of Puerto Rican and Venezuelan descent. Her activism started in the civil rights, anti-war, and feminist movements in the 1960s before she became an important figure in the gay rights movement as well. A close friend of Marsha P. Johnson, she co-founded the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries and S.T.A.R. House, a homeless shelter for gay and trans youth. She was also an early member of the Gay Activists Alliance and the Gay Liberation Front and fought for legal protections for LGBTQ people, including the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act and the later Transgender Rights Bill. Throughout her life she was critical of the mainstream gay rights movement’s exclusions of people of color, trans people, and sex workers in order to appease the “respectability” of mainstream culture. Her legacy reminds us that even with the progress that the LGBTQ community has made, we must continue to fight for the respect, inclusion, and celebration of ALL queer identities, including those that have been marginalized within the larger movement. 

Bayard Rustin, 1912-1987 

Bayard Rustin was a black gay man and an important figure in the American Civil Rights Movement. He was an advocate of nonviolent protest and civil disobedience and was an early organizer of the 1947 Freedom Ride that protested racial segregation in the South. Later, Rustin was a close advisor to Martin Luther King, Jr. and a key organizer of the March on Washington (where MLK gave his famous “I Have A Dream” speech). In his later career, Rustin became involved with the Democratic Party, labor unions, and gay rights activism. Rustin’s sexual orientation, as well as his earlier connections with the Communist Party, meant that he took a behind-the-scenes seat in the Civil Rights movement to avoid controversy. Therefore, recognizing his important contributions to history and to the fight for equality is all the more important today. 

Brenda Howard, 1946-2005 

Brenda Howard was a bisexual feminist woman and an important figure in shaping the modern LGBTQ rights movement. Howard’s activism began in the anti-war movement of the 1960s and soon expanded to the feminist and gay rights movements as well. Her work with other activists in coordinating the rally commemorating the first anniversary of the Stonewall riots and in popularizing the term “Pride” to describe the event earned her the unofficial title of the “mother of Pride.” Howard planned and participated in LGBTQ activism throughout her life, and was active in organizations including the Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights, ACT UP, and Queer Nation. She helped to found the New York Area Bisexual Network as well as the first Alcoholics Anonymous chapter for bisexual individuals, helping to address the gap in resources available to bisexual people. Her activism and dedication were key in making the LGBTQ movement what it is today. 

We must remember that the LGBTQ community has the rights and access to resources that it does today because of the activism of people like this. We are able to march during Pride Month because of the people who came before us, and we owe it to them to remember their legacies and to continue the ongoing fight for justice and equality for the LGBTQ community. 

Want to learn more but don’t know where to start? We recommend checking out: 

Ourqueerhistory.com

Outhistory.org

The podcast Making Queer History

The Stay Proud Project

And these lists of book and documentary recommendations

Stay tuned for next week, when we’ll highlight important LGBTQ artists throughout history. Happy Pride! <3 <3 <3

[happyg0th]

28/30: Bayard Rustin. He was an early civil rights activist, leading a march on Washington in 1941 to end discrimination in the workplace. As an openly gay man, he was an intersectional activist, pushing for equality for both black Americans and gay Americans. He believed strongly in non-violent resistance, socialism, and Quaker pacifism, and participated in bus boycotts, protest marches, and campaigns to desegregate the U.S. military. He was closely involved with prominent civil rights leadership in the 1950s-1970s. He was arrested for being openly homosexual, in defiance of existing laws, and for disobeying segregation laws in the Jim Crow South. Following the successful effort to end legal segregation, he became involved in politics, and spent the next two decades working to more closely align the Democratic Party, the civil rights movement, and workers’ unions. His political career was lengthy, and he left an incredible legacy. . Master list of the ways you can help: https://linktr.ee/NationalResourcesList . . #bayardrustin #author #activist #politician #lgbtqia #gayrights #raceinamerica #leader #inspiration #civilrights #stories #inspiring #portraits #illustration #blacklivesmatter #nonviolent #protest #quaker #heroes https://www.instagram.com/p/CCAZIJpp6Ao/?igshid=1miwt2co9du3f

[queerliblib]

what happened to the collections on queerliblib.overdrive.com? i saved the link to the nonfiction for black history month collection so i could look at it later, but now it's just a 404 error and the "collections" menu is blank!

hello! so those different categories you see pop up on the OverDrive website and in Libby like ‘In Translation’ or ‘Asexual Spectrum Representation’ are curated lists that we build from the collection. We can also only have a certain number of these lists published at one time, so we rotate a few out each month. non-fiction for Black History Month, and our valentines list, were cycled out so we could have space to post a list for Women’s History Month.

we’re sorry that caused some confusion/frustration! the good news though, is that all those books are still in our collection. you can browse just our non-fiction here, and keep an eye out for relevant titles like She Called Me Woman, Bayard Rustin: a Legacy of Protest & Politics, When they Tell You to be Good, The Famous Lady Lovers, Black Queer Freedom, & more

[expendablemudge]

THE BAYARD RUSTIN PAGE

Tomorrow is pub day for BAYARD RUSTIN: A Legacy of Protest and Politics, edited by Michael G. Long via NYU Press! My #BookRecommendation is here:

[blackkudos]

Barbara Jordan

Barbara Charline Jordan (February 21, 1936 – January 17, 1996) was a lawyer, educator, an American politician, and a leader of the Civil Rights Movement. A Democrat, she was the first African American elected to the Texas Senate after Reconstruction, the first Southern African-American woman elected to the United States House of Representatives. She was best-known for her eloquent opening statement at the House Judiciary Committee hearings during the impeachment process against Richard Nixon, and as the first African-American woman to deliver a keynote address at a Democratic National Convention. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, among numerous other honors. She was a member of the Peabody Awards Board of Jurors from 1978 to 1980. She was the first African-American woman to be buried in the Texas State Cemetery.

Early life

Barbara Charline Jordan was born in Houston, Texas's Fourth Ward. Jordan's childhood centered on church life. Her mother was Arlyne Patten Jordan, a teacher in the church, and her father was Benjamin Jordan, a Baptist preacher. Barbara Jordan was the youngest of 3 children, with siblings Rosemary Jordan McGowan and Bennie Jordan Creswell (d. 2000). Jordan attended Roberson Elementary School. She graduated from Phillis Wheatley High School in 1952 with honors.

Jordan credited a speech she heard in her high school years by Edith S. Sampson with inspiring her to become a lawyer. Because of segregation, she could not attend The University of Texas at Austin and instead chose Texas Southern University, an historically-black institution, majoring in political science and history. At Texas Southern University, Jordan was a national champion debater, defeating opponents from Yale and Brown and tying Harvard University. She graduated magna cum laude in 1956. At Texas Southern University, she pledged Delta Sigma Theta sorority. She attended Boston University School of Law, graduating in 1959.

Career

Jordan taught political science at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama for a year. In 1960, she returned to Houston, passed the bar and started a private law practice.

Jordan campaigned unsuccessfully in 1962 and 1964 for the Texas House of Representatives. She won a seat in the Texas Senate in 1966, becoming the first African-American state senator since 1883 and the first black woman to serve in that body. Re-elected to a full term in the Texas Senate in 1968, she served until 1972. She was the first African-American female to serve as president pro tem of the state senate and served one day, June 10, 1972, as acting governor of Texas. To date Jordan is the only African-American woman to serve as governor of a state (excluding lieutenant governors). During her time in the Texas Legislature, Jordan sponsored or cosponsored some 70 bills.

In 1972, she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, the first woman in her own right to represent Texas in the House. She received extensive support from former President Lyndon B. Johnson, who helped her secure a position on the House Judiciary Committee. In 1974, she made an influential televised speech before the House Judiciary Committee supporting the impeachment of President Richard Nixon, Johnson's successor as President. In 1975, she was appointed by Carl Albert, then Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, to the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee.

In 1976, Jordan, mentioned as a possible running mate to Jimmy Carter of Georgia, became instead the first African-American woman to deliver a keynote address at the Democratic National Convention. Despite not being a candidate, Jordan received one delegate vote (0.03%) for President at the Convention.

Jordan retired from politics in 1979 and became an adjunct professor teaching ethics at the University of Texas at Austin Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. She was again a keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention in 1992.

In 1994 and until her death in 1996, Jordan chaired the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform, which advocated inceased restriction of immigration, increased penalties on employers that violated U.S. immigration regulations. While she was Chair of the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform she argued that "it is both a right and a responsibility of a democratic society to manage immigration so that it serves the national interest." Opponents of modern U.S. immigration policy have cited her willingness to penalize employers who violate U.S. immigration regulations, tighten border security, oppose amnesty for illegal immigrants, harm to US citizens in jobs and employment from cheaper illegal alien workers,, and clear process for the deportation of legal immigrants. In 1994, Clinton awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom and The NAACP presented her with the Springarn Medal. She was honored many times and was given over 20 honorary degrees from institutions across the country, including Harvard and Princeton, and was elected to the Texas and National Women's Halls of Fame.

Statement on the Articles of Impeachment

On July 25, 1974, Texas Representative Barbara Jordan delivered a 15-minute televised speech in front of the members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee. She presented an opening speech during the hearings that were part of the impeachment process against Richard Nixon. This speech is thought to be one of the best speeches of the 20th century. Throughout her speech, Jordan strongly stood by the Constitution of the United States of America. She defended the checks and balances system, which was set in place to inhibit any politician from abusing their power. Jordan never flat out said that she wanted Nixon impeached, but rather subtly and cleverly implied her thoughts. She simply stated facts that proved Nixon to be untrustworthy and heavily involved in illegal situations. She protested that the Watergate scandal will forever ruin the trust American citizens have for their government. One of the reasons Nixon resigned over the Watergate scandal was because of this speech. This powerful and influential statement earned Jordan national praise for her rhetoric, morals, and wisdom.

Legislation

Jordan supported the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, legislation that required banks to lend and make services available to underserved poor and minority communities. She supported the renewal of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and expansion of that act to cover language minorities; this extended protection to Hispanics in Texas and was opposed by Texas Governor Dolph Briscoe and Secretary of State Mark White. She also authored an act that ended federal authorization of price fixing by manufacturers. During Jordan's tenure as a Congresswoman she sponsored or cosponsored over 300 bills or resolutions, several of which are still in effect today as law.

Personal life

Jordan's companion of approximately twenty years was Nancy Earl, an educational psychologist, whom she met on a camping trip in the late 1960s. Jordan's sexual preference has never been determined, but some sources list her as a lesbian. She would have been the first lesbian known to have been elected to the United States Congress. Earl was an occasional speech writer for Jordan, and later was a caregiver when Jordan began to suffer from multiple sclerosis in 1973. In the KUT radio documentary Rediscovering Barbara Jordan, President Bill Clinton said that he wanted to nominate Jordan for the United States Supreme Court, but by the time he could do so, Jordan's health problems prevented him from nominating her. Jordan later also suffered from leukemia.

In 1988, Jordan nearly drowned in her backyard swimming pool while doing physical therapy, but she was saved by Earl who found her floating in the pool and revived her.

Jordan died at the age of 59 due to complications from pneumonia on January 17, 1996, in Austin, Texas.

Recognition and legacy

1984: Inducted into the Texas Women's Hall of Fame.

1990: Inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame

1992: The Spingarn Medal from the NAACP.

1993: The Elizabeth Blackwell Award from Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

1994: The Presidential Medal of Freedom.

1995: The second ever female awardee of the United States Military Academy's Sylvanus Thayer Award.

Her 1974 statement on the articles of impeachment (regarding President Richard Nixon) was listed as #13 in American Rhetoric's Top 100 Speeches of the 20th Century (listed by rank).

Her 1976 DNC keynote address was listed as #5 in American Rhetoric's Top 100 Speeches of the 20th Century (listed by rank).

Namesakes in Texas

The main terminal at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is named after Jordan, as well as a boulevard in central Austin. Several schools bear Jordan's name, including an elementary school in Odessa, Texas, and Austin, Texas, Barbara Jordan Early College Prep School, a middle school in Cibolo, Texas, and Barbara Jordan High School in Houston. The Kaiser Family Foundation currently operates the Barbara Jordan Health Policy Scholars, a fellowship designed for people of color who are college juniors, seniors, and recent graduates as a summer experience working in a congressional office.

Other honors

In 2000, the Jordan/Rustin Coalition (JRC) was created in Jordan's honor. The organization mobilized gay and lesbian African Americans to aid in the passage of marriage equality in the state of California. Along with Bayard Rustin, a civil rights leader and close confidante of Martin Luther King, Jr., Barbara Jordan is remembered for her advocacy of progressive politics. According to its website, "the mission [of the JRC] is to empower Black same-gender loving, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals and families in Greater Los Angeles, to promote equal marriage rights and to advocate for fair treatment of everyone without regard to race, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression."

On March 27, 2000, a play based on Jordan's life premiered at the Victory Garden Theater in Chicago, Illinois. Titled, "Voice of Good Hope", Kristine Thatcher's biographical evocation of Jordan's life played in theaters from San Francisco to New York.

On April 24, 2009, a Barbara Jordan statue was unveiled at the University of Texas at Austin, where Jordan taught at the time of her death. The Barbara Jordan statue campaign was paid for by a student fee increase approved by the University of Texas Board of Regents. The effort was originally spearheaded by the 2002–2003 Tappee class of the Texas Orange Jackets, the "oldest women's organization at the University" (of Texas at Austin).

In 2011, actor/playwright Jade Esteban Estrada portrayed Jordan in the solo musical comedy ICONS: The Lesbian and Gay History of the World, Vol. 5 which includes the song "Nancy's Eyes" sung by the character of Jordan with music and lyrics by Estrada.

In 2011, the Barbara Jordan Forever Stamp was issued. It is the 34th stamp in the Black Heritage series of U.S. stamps.

In 2012, Jordan was inducted into the Legacy Walk, an outdoor public display which celebrates LGBT history and people.

The Barbara Jordan Media Awards are given annually to media professionals and students who "have produced material for the public which accurately and positively reports on individuals with disabilities, using People First language and respectful depictions."

There is also the Barbara Jordan Public-Private Leadership Award.

Wikipedia

[nancydhooper]

Remembering Martin Luther King Jr., the Organizer

What a new generation of activists can learn from America’s most celebrated civil rights leader.

Martin Luther King Jr. is rightly celebrated as a transformative political and moral leader who championed racial equality, but he is less often credited as a brilliant strategic and tactical organizer who led cutting edge campaigns to deliver the rights for which he is known. As an organizer, I am struck by the mastery of the organizing craft that infuses King’s writing, so on this holiday remembering his legacy, I’ll share several of King’s lessons that all activists can benefit from today.

King chose campaign targets strategically and partnered with local leadership

King’s campaigns were almost always local in scope and national in implication. Birmingham, the most segregated city in the South, was the target of a public accommodations campaign. King’s campaign in St. Augustine, Florida, a local Ku Klux Klan hub in a state whose governor supported ending segregation, tested whether the rule of law could triumph over racism. Selma, where voter registration was particularly hostile to Black citizens, was the locus of his voting rights campaign. Chicago’s residential segregation made it the ideal city for a northern open housing campaign.

King’s main political vehicle, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, had grassroots relationships in many Southern cities. Although King himself believed that, “No American is an outsider when he goes to the community to aid the cause of freedom and justice,” his entre into a city was usually by invitation from an ongoing local campaign. King would then collaborate with local leaders, essential for both building sustainable power and to protect King from ‘outside agitator’ allegations, and then follow up after the cameras had moved to ensure that reforms were implemented.

King developed innovative tactics in service of a cohesive strategy

King spent his career developing a strategy of non-violent resistance to persuade his primary target — moderate, movable white people �� that civil rights were necessary. His campaigns used an evolving arsenal of tactics to support that strategy. In Clayborne Carson’s edited autobiography, King describes the 1962 Albany Movement campaign’s use of “direct action expressed through mass demonstrations; jail-ins; sit-ins; wade-ins, and kneel-ins; political action; boycotts and legal actions” to combat segregation in the Georgian city. King would turn the political pressure up and down depending on where and when he marched and used jailing as a tactic. This included a strategy around when to reject bail (remaining in jail for movement solidarity) and when to raise sufficient bail funds (so staff and volunteers could carry on critical work). 

Some of King’s tactics evolved from his failures. When Albany ended without major victories due to what King called “vague” campaign goals, King designed the Birmingham campaign to focus on the desegregation of downtown stores.

The famous 1963 March on Washington was a tactic with a particular goal in mind: Show white Americans what the civil rights movement looked like. For millions of white Americans tuning in on national television, the march’s well-dressed crowds and remarkable oratory ran completely counter to the fabrications they’d long been told about the Black civil rights movement, thus shifting their opinions on civil rights.  

King even had a knack for employing celebrity support as a tactic. In a memo dictated from a Selma jail, King asked deputy Rev. Ralph Abernathy “to call Sammy Davis and ask him to do a Sunday benefit in Atlanta to raise money for the Alabama project. I find that all of these fellows respond better when I am in jail or in a crisis.”

King invested in others

An organizer invests in the leadership of other people, and King was committed to providing Black people with a “new sense of dignity and destiny” in his campaigns. In King’s campaigns, mass mobilization was an occasional tactic, but more essential was developing a cadre of core volunteers steeped and trained in the philosophy of non-violence and deeply committed to the movement. The 1963 Birmingham desegregation campaign, for example, launched with only 65 people — but each had pledged to serve up to five days in jail.

King was also willing to share the spotlight. At the height of the Albany Movement, King remained imprisoned in solidarity with other protesters rather than appear on “Meet the Press,” an opportunity he passed to a deputy. And despite deep misgivings over Kwame Ture's (then Stokely Carmichael) use of the term “black power” and refusal to commit to non-violence, King worked assiduously to keep their differences from derailing a joint march across Mississippi and publicly maintained a positive posture towards his younger partner.

King embraced politics as essential to making change

While politics is understandably distasteful to many activists, King’s political savvy was essential to his success. He conversed regularly with Vice President Richard Nixon during the Eisenhower administration and built a direct line to the Kennedy and Johnson White Houses. And while he was never afraid to criticize even his closest political allies, he also was always quick to issue a telegram of appreciation whenever a politician did the right thing.

King’s understanding of politics also informed his campaign tactics. Recognizing the movement’s lack of political power pre-voting rights, he focused on the economic pressure of boycotts or social pressure of direct action. While King famously wrote that direct action campaigns are never “well timed” in the view of the oppressor, he was actually quite savvy in his own timing. He delayed the start of the Birmingham campaign, for example, so that the campaign’s activism would not be detrimental to Public Safety Commissioner Bull Connor’s more moderate electoral opponent. Regarding political compromise, King recognized that victories, however small, are needed to “galvanize support and boost morale” in furtherance of a long-term movement. Of course, King was the ultimate disruptor, from the Montgomery Bus Boycott to the Poor People’s Campaign, and while he could work with politicians, his confrontational tactics never yielded to conventional politics.  

These are just a few examples of the intentionality King brought to his organizing practice, which, married to his moral clarity, made him such a transformative visionary.

And while Martin Luther King Day is an important day to recognize the incredible achievements of one man, we should also the celebrate the iconic organizers who fought for civil rights alongside him, including Ella Baker, Bayard Rustin, Andrew Young, Rev. Ralph Abernathy, and so many others who nurtured dreams of civil rights into reality.

Their legacies live on today.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8247012 https://www.aclu.org/blog/racial-justice/remembering-martin-luther-king-jr-organizer via http://www.rssmix.com/

[transyouthtoday]

Rediscovering the Lost History of Bayard Rustin

Note: this post appeared in the Wittenberg Torch (http://thewittenbergtorch.com/?p=17747).  Although this topic doesn’t relate to transgender youth issues specifically, it does offer a perspective on the greater LGBT+ movement.

When thinking about 1960’s Civil Rights Movement, big names like Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X usually first come to mind. However, many other figures were involved in the movement and not all of their legacies appear in history textbooks.

Last Friday, scholars and activists, including Jared Leighton, Ph.D., Walter Naegle and John D’Emilio, Ph.D., visited Wittenberg’s Shouvlin Center in conjunction with Wittenberg’s English Professor Rick Incorvati’s “Writing for Social Change” class to bring light to a civil rights activist too often forgotten: Bayard Rustin.

Rustin’s greatest accomplishment included organizing the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in August of 1963, which advocated for the social, economic and political of rights of African Americans and is where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. The march resulted in the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that outlawed discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex and national origin.

Historians and social scientists cite Rustin’s sexuality—as an openly gay man—as his greatest obstacle in the face of his opponents and the main reason his legacy is often forgotten. Other civil rights activists believed that Rustin’s sexuality would undermine the movement and although Rustin hoped to connect the black civil rights movement with t h e fight for gay rights, those around him feared that they would lose key forces working with them, such as churches.

Leighton, a professor of African-American and LGBTQ+ history at the University of Nebraska started off the lecture by reading a paper he wrote about the connections between black civil rights activists and LGBTQ+ activists in the 1960’s. He noted that LGBTQ+ people came together around the civil rights movement because of its high ideals of equal opportunities and freedom. However, gay rights activists tended to organize separately, rather than drawing civil rights networks to form a massive group.

In response to the subversion of LGBTQ+ civil rights activists in the 1960’s, “The entirety of the past is not always legible, especially when discussing oppression, ” Leighton said.

D’Emilio, author of “Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin,” also noted the difficulty of honoring lesser-known activists like Rustin.

“The way history is put out there, only the biggest names come out to us unless we’re actively searching for people like Bayard Rustin,” he said.

D’Emilio also discussed the difficulty in “coming out of the closet” during the 1960’s.

“It was nearly impossible to be “out” in the 1960’s,” D’Emilio said. “’Coming out” was a key phrase, but it meant only allowing other LGBT people know you’re gay.”

The discussion and responses to the essay were followed by Q & A session with the audience that included questions like, “How did you find a way around the family and church being for racial equality but against LGBT rights?” and “How do we increase solidarity between Civil Rights Groups and LGBT activists?”

Naegle, Rustin’s former partner, answered from his first-hand experiences.

“The response to the church and family is alternative institutions: alternative definitions of family and relationships as well as the creation of new churches,” Naegle said. “Rustin knew nonviolence and had the practical experience that King didn’t have, but sometimes King found it difficult that Rustin was gay.”

Naegle connected the question of solidarity to one of the most prominent civil rights movements today, Black Lives Matter.

“We need open communication between groups along mutual causes and true inclusiveness to make sure everyone has their voice heard,” Naegle said. I could see it happening in BLM, considering two of its three founding members identify as queer. It’s intersectional in its founding.”

The closing question from an audience member asked if Rustin, as a leader in non-violent change particularly, felt that civil disobedience undermined the cause of civil rights.

“From protest to politics, no matter what movement, we will never win on our own. We wouldn’t be in this situation in first place if we could, and that was Rustin’s underlying principle,” Naegle said.