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Bayard Rustin: Civil Rights Activist

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Bayard Rustin was born on March 17, 1912 West Chester , Pennsylvania. He had been raised to believe his parents were julia and Janifer Rustin, when in fact are his grandparents. He discovered the truth before adolescents, that the woman he thought was his siblings Florence was in fact his mother, who’s had rustin with west Indian immigrant Archie hopkins. Bayard Rustin was a Civil Rights organizer and a activist, best known for his work as adviser to Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1950’s and 60’s. He moved to New York in the 1939’s and was involved in pacifist groups and early civil rights protests. Rustin attended Wilberforce University in Ohio, and Cheyney State teachers college( now Cheyney University of Pennsylvania) in pennsylvania, both …show more content…
He was briefly involved with the young communist league in 1930’s before he became disillusioned with its activities and resigned. He combined non-violent resistance with organizational skills, he was a key advisor to MLK Jr. in the 1960’s. Rustins biography is particulary important for lesbians and gay Americans, highlighting the major contributions of a gay man ending segregation in America. Rustin was punished several times for his beliefs, during the war, he was jailed for two years when he refused to regular for the draft. When he took part in protests against the segregation public transit system in 1947, he was arrested in NC and sentenced to work on chain gang for several of weeks. By the 1950’s Rustin was an expert organizer of human protests. In 1958, played an important role in coordinating a march in Aldermaston, England in which 10,000 attendees a march demonstrated against nuclear weapons. Rustin assisted King with the boycott of segregated buses in montgomery, alabama in 1956. Most famously Rustin was a key figure in the organization of the march on Washington for jobs and freedom, at which King delivered his “i have dream” speech on August 28,

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