35TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION Super Hero BAYARD RUSTIN

Bayard Rustin 

A young student from the City College of New York strolled through the door of A. Philip Randolph's office wanting to know if the tales of this black leader were true. The 27 year old was Bayard Rustin. Rustin would later become an extraordinary leader by harnessing the power of the masses, something Randolph talked to him about that first day. 

Within two years of the meeting, Rustin had departed the Young Communist League and begun walking in the footsteps of Randolph. After mentoring him in the use of nonviolent protest, Randolph continued to call upon Rustin's exceptional abilities as a political organizer over the next four decades. 

They were a force even presidents could not surmount. The threat of a mass march on Washington organized by Rustin and Randolph compelled President Franklin Roosevelt to sign a 1941 executive order opening jobs in defense industries to African Americans. In 1948, they orchestrated the same threat to achieve an executive order from President Harry Truman to desegregate the military. 

Upon gaining those commitments, Randolph called off both marches, thus antagonizing the young, impatient Rustin. But whether they worked together or parted ways, Randolph's striking model for peaceful mass action was not lost on Rustin. Joining with others to form the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in 1942 and the 1955-56 Montgomery Bus Boycott, the precursor to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Rustin's skilled actions hit their mark in the struggle against segregation. 

With Randolph's adroit counsel, Rustin also supported liberation efforts around the globe and in the United States. Still, it was in 1963 that Rustin demonstrated his preeminence in the Civil Rights Movement by finally delivering his mass March on Washington, where 200,000 participants formed the largest protest of its time. 

Rustin publicly denounced A. Philip Randolph after Randolph canceled the 1948 March on Washington, which was largely organized by Rustin. Achieving their desegregation goals with just the threat of a march was not enough for the young militant. But after two and a half years of reflection, Rustin reconnected with Randolph. 

In part, Rustin was so effective because he avoided the spotlight, preferring to work in the shadows of Randolph and Dr. King. His extraordinary ability to harness the power of numbers for landmark actions during the Civil Rights Movement helped redefine the laws of the United States. His commitment to human liberation extended across many continents from Africa to India. It covered many races and ethnicities from Japanese American detainees during WWII to Southeast Asian refugees after the Vietnam War to Haitians escaping oppression. He was also a staunch supporter of Israel. Rustin died in 1987.

From Great African Americans.  Copyright, Publications International, Ltd.