The Man Who Taught Nonviolence to Martin Luther King Jr.

Summary

Reveal: The Man Who Taught Nonviolence to Martin Luther King Jr.

Air Date: February 18, 2026
Host: Al Letson

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Overview

This episode of Reveal revisits the life and work of Bayard Rustin, a crucial yet often overlooked figure in American Civil Rights history. Through archival audio, interviews, and narrative storytelling, host Al Letson explores how Rustin’s identity as a Black gay Quaker, his embrace of nonviolence, and his behind-the-scenes activism shaped pivotal moments in the movement—from teaching Martin Luther King Jr. the tactics of nonviolence to organizing the 1963 March on Washington.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Rustin’s Early Life and Formation

• Quaker Roots and Early Activism (06:40–07:45)
  • Born in 1912 in Westchester, Pennsylvania; raised by a grandmother whose Quaker values informed his pacifism.
  • Openly gay and comfortable with his identity despite harsh societal attitudes, even as a young man in segregated America.
  • “[Rustin] was comfortable in his own skin at a time when his skin was a detriment.” (07:13, Al Letson)
• Conscientious Objection and Prison Activism (07:59–08:55)
  • Refused to fight in WWII, leading to a federal prison sentence.
  • Organized inmates against racial segregation even in prison, suffering greatly after being targeted for his sexuality.
  • “He decides he’s going to organize in the prison against racial segregation.” (08:18, John D’Amelio)

2. Pioneering Nonviolent Resistance

• Journey of Reconciliation: Prototype Freedom Rides (10:35–15:28)
  • In 1947, Rustin and others, inspired by Irene Morgan’s Supreme Court victory, set out to test enforcement of desegregation in bus travel.
  • Organized interracial teams to ride through the Upper South, facing arrests and threats.
  • “We were before the main thrust of the civil rights movement. We were, in a sense, I guess you could say, pioneers.” (15:19, George Hauser)

3. Introducing Nonviolence to Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement

• Montgomery Bus Boycott (04:12–06:29; 20:02–22:17)
  • Rustin introduces Dr. King to Gandhian nonviolence in the midst of the Montgomery bus boycott, persuading him to remove guns for the movement’s integrity.
  • Rustin provides vital political organizing skills and a broader strategic vision.
  • “I think it is fair to say that Dr. King’s view of nonviolent tactics was almost non-existent when the boycott began.” (04:50, Bayard Rustin)
  • “He was able to become Dr. King’s tutor at a very early stage in King’s career.” (20:19, John D’Amelio)

4. Behind-the-Scenes Organizer, Target of Homophobia

• Challenges Due to Sexuality (18:15–19:11; 22:57–23:53)
  • Rustin’s 1953 arrest on charges of “public lewdness” leads to his resignation from a leading peace organization; stigma affects his career.
  • Later, political enemies threaten to out Rustin and falsely imply an affair with Dr. King to discredit both men, forcing him to step back from frontline leadership.
  • “Rustin’s sexuality follows him like a shadow, a readily available weapon for his opponents to neutralize him and his work.” (23:53, Al Letson)

5. Architect of the March on Washington

• Planning and Execution (24:22–34:27)
  • Alongside A. Philip Randolph, Rustin spearheads organization of the 1963 March on Washington.
  • Carefully trains both volunteers and police in nonviolence to ensure a peaceful protest.
  • Faces renewed attacks due to sexuality (Strom Thurmond’s Senate speech), but Randolph publicly and powerfully defends Rustin.
    • “We stand by Bayard Rustin. He is our organizer. He is Mr. March on Washington.” (29:52, John D’Amelio relays Randolph)
  • The March is a historic, peaceful demonstration with a diverse crowd—Rustin’s organizational genius widely acknowledged.
    • “What do you say? We demand that segregation be ended in every school district in the year 1963.” (33:55, Bayard Rustin, reading demands to the crowd)

6. Aftermath and Shifting Strategies

• Post-March Developments (35:09–39:51)
  • Joy from the March quickly replaced by tragedy with the Birmingham Church bombing (36:24).
  • Rustin shifts strategy: moves towards working within the political system and crafting systemic solutions (the “Freedom Budget” to end poverty).
    • “No economic or social order has ever been developed on the basis of color. It must be developed on the basis of class.” (38:16, Bayard Rustin)
  • Encounters friction with younger activists eager for more radical approaches (e.g., Black Power).

7. Later Years and Gay Rights Activism

• Personal Life and Continued Advocacy (44:56–49:08)
  • Rustin finds personal happiness and stability in his relationship with Walter Naegle, ultimately adopting him legally due to the inability to marry.
  • Embraces advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights, stating the centrality of sexual orientation to future human rights struggles.
    • “The judgment as to whether you can trust for the future ... will be judged on where they come out on that question.” (48:35, Bayard Rustin)
  • Plays a key role in securing protections for sexual orientation in New York City human rights law.

8. Legacy and Final Reflections

• Death and Obituary (49:34–50:51)
  • Dies in 1987. Obituaries stress his profound impact but remind us how history marginalized his contributions.
  • Al Letson closes with the importance of telling stories like Rustin’s, highlighting what makes the U.S. “great.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• “I believe the March on Washington said to the American people, we are now capable of having that kind of love and affection and absence of bigotry, which means we can become one nation.”
  —Bayard Rustin (00:10)

• “I think it is fair to say that Dr. King’s view of nonviolent tactics was almost nonexistent when the boycott began.”
  —Bayard Rustin (04:50)

• “He was comfortable in his own skin at a time when his skin was a detriment.”
  —Al Letson (07:13)

• “In other words, at that point, Dr. King was committing himself and his children at home to be protected by guns.”
  —Bayard Rustin (04:50)

• “He is our organizer. He is Mr. March on Washington.”
  —John D’Amelio quoting A. Philip Randolph (29:52)

• “If things are well organized, people will naturally be well behaved.”
  —Rachelle Horowitz (28:24)

• “What do you say? We demand that segregation be ended in every school district in the year 1963.”
  —Bayard Rustin (33:55)

• “No economic or social order has ever been developed on the basis of color. It must be developed on the basis of class.”
  —Bayard Rustin (38:16)

• “The barometer for judging the character of people in regard to human rights is now those who consider themselves gay, homosexual, lesbian ... if they come out poorly on that question, they will come out poorly on all other human rights.”
  —Bayard Rustin (48:35)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Rustin meets King, teaches nonviolence: 04:12–06:29
• Journey of Reconciliation (proto-Freedom Rides): 10:35–15:28
• Rustin’s 1953 arrest and resignation: 18:15–19:11
• Organizing the March on Washington: 24:22–34:27
• Dealing with homophobic attacks (Strom Thurmond): 29:03–30:24
• Rustin reads march demands: 33:36–34:16
• Post-march fallout and evolving strategy: 35:09–41:13
• Personal life, adoption of partner, and LGBTQ+ activism: 44:56–49:08
• Rustin’s legacy: 49:08–51:10

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Tone and Style

The episode weaves documentary storytelling with poetic narration and first-person reflections, blending the voices of Rustin, historians, colleagues, and activists with Letson’s reverent, empathetic narration. The tone is admiring yet honest, often tinged with both appreciation and sadness for Rustin’s marginalization within the movement he helped shape.

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Summary

The Man Who Taught Nonviolence to Martin Luther King Jr. is both an overdue celebration and candid reckoning with Bayard Rustin’s transformative influence—and the persistent forces that sidelined him in life and in history books. This deeply reported, richly narrated episode delivers crucial context for understanding the Civil Rights era, the fight for gay rights, and the personal costs of being ahead of your time.

Transcript

[Al Letson]

He's been called the lost prophet of the Civil rights movement and was key to the success of the 1963 March on Washington.

[Bayard Rustin]

I believe the March on Washington said to the American people, we are now capable of having that kind of love and affection and absence of bigotry, which means we can become one nation.

[Al Letson]

Coming up on More to the story. We're sharing a radio episode about a hero of mine, Bayard Rustin. It's from another time in my life, before President Trump and Covid and even before Reveal. You don't want to miss it. Are you working on your capsule wardrobe? Quince has you covered. Quince is all about elevated, effortless essentials that are designed for layering and mixing. They've got all the staples you need to build a timeless wardrobe that will last season after season. Quince uses the highest quality materials, and the stitching fits and fabrics speak for themselves. I'm someone who doesn't want to spend a lot of time getting dressed. I'm looking for simple comfort that still has style. And the Quince oversized Mongolian crewneck totally fits the bill for me, taking me from casual work from home to a dinner out. So I'm excited to get a new version, a boat neck in rich burgundy that I'm sure will also quickly become a wardrobe staple. Refresh your wardrobe with quince go to quince.com refresh for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Q U I n c e.com reveal to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com reveal every idea starts with a problem. Warby Parker's was simple. Glasses are too expensive. So they set out to change that. By designing glasses in house and selling directly to customers, they're able to offer prescription eyewear that's expertly crafted and unexpectedly affordable. Warby Parker glasses are made from premium materials like impact resistant polycarbonate and custom acetate, and they start at just $95, including prescription lenses. Get glasses made from the good stuff. Stop by a Warby Parker store near you. This is more to the story. I'm Al Letsin and almost two decades ago at this point, I hosted my first show called State of the Reunion. It was a little program with big ambitions that I created with a small but passionate team. One of them was Taki Telenides. You hear his name in our credits here. When I came to Reveal, I dragged him along with me. Given that it's Black History Month, Taki and I were reminiscing about one of our first episodes that we did on State of the Reunion about Bayard Rustin. Rustin was a black gay Quaker who taught Martin Luther King the practice of nonviolence. So we thought we would bring back this important episode produced by Tina Antolini, my sister from another. Mr. Now one thing you gotta know is when this thing came out, I was a baby host. I was just getting started, still fresh from my days as a performance poet. So even though I love this hour, there are parts of it that make me cringe a little bit and think, God, was I ever that young? But the story of Bayard Rustin does not make me cringe. It is absolutely worth a listen. The man was fascinating and I hope you enjoy it. It's February 1956, Montgomery, Alabama. A young preacher named Martin Luther King is leading a bus boycott after a black woman, Rosa Parks, refused to give up her seat on a city bus. At this point, you have to understand that Montgomery is one match away from an expl. The racial tensions in the city are high and no one knows how this will end. On this day, a dark car pulls up to Dr. King's house. Two African American men get out of the car, walk up to the porch, nod to the armed guards by the door, and are escorted into King's sitting room.

[Bayard Rustin]

And when we rush it into Dr. King's living room, I said, watch out, Bill, there's a gun in that chair. Because he was about to sit on the gun.

[Al Letson]

That is the voice of the most important civil rights leader that I'd never heard of, a Mr. Bayard. Rustin Bayard is an activist from up North. He'd been applying the Gandhian principles of nonviolent protest to the civil rights cause long before anyone had ever heard of Martin Luther King. When the bus boycott began, it was clear that this was the moment the civil rights struggle had been waiting for. But Bayard knew that fundamental changes had to be made in order for the boycott to be be a success.

[Bayard Rustin]

I think it is fair to say that Dr. King's view of nonviolent tactics was almost non existent when the boycott began. In other words, at that point, Dr. King was committing himself and his children at home to be protected by guns.

[Al Letson]

Which is understandable given the very real dangers King and his followers were facing. Bayard spoke to King passionately about his belief that the presence of guns compromised a boycott and could become a dangerous liability. His point was illustrated when late one night, the armed guards posted at King's house almost shot a young boy delivering A telegram.

[Bayard Rustin]

That incident brought Dr. King up against the implications of these guns. And we talked many, many hours about tactics of non violence. And I presume that Dr. King may have learned something from those discussions.

[Al Letson]

And the universe exhaled. When I first heard this story of Bayard schooling Martin Luther King on the practice of nonviolence, I imagine that my thoughts were similar to Dr. King's as he sat across from Bayard for the first time. You see, they were two months into the boycott. The participants had been beaten, arrested, and King's home had been bombed. And Mr. Rustin was telling him to get rid of the guns. No protection. I'm sure that Dr. King sat there, thought about his wife, his children, himself, and what Bayard was asking him to do, and thought, who is this man?

[Bayard Rustin]

He was the American Gandhi we had been looking for.

[John D'Amelio]

Bayard Rustin was a fighter for racial justice and peace in the United States.

[Al Letson]

March 17, 1912. Westchester, Pennsylvania. Bayard Rustin, born to a teenage mother, raised by his grandmother whose Quaker roots run deep. But his grandmother told him not to take nothing from nobody. Yet all around him, injustice prevails. Who is this man that as a teenager fought sam segregation. One man sit ins protesting, challenging, shaking up the status quo. Who is this man?

[Bayard Rustin]

He was very innovative, very creative in his ideas, but also he had a.

[Al Letson]

Kind of strategic mind.

[Rachelle Horowitz]

And he was an incredible organizer at.

[Al Letson]

An early age, knew he was different because he lived his life very openly and there was no snickering around that Bayard is gay, you know, behind his back. Because he was very straightforward in who he was, was comfortable in his own skin at a time when his skin was a detriment. Comfortable with being gay when gayness was a crime. Comfortable with standing for what he believed, when what he believed pushed against the grain.

[Bayard Rustin]

People took a liking to him. Or maybe they hated his guts in some cases.

[Al Letson]

Joins the pacifists. Vows to create racial equality in a segregated land. Vows to fight with words, to sharpen his intellect. Thinks outside the box. But as the country fights the Second World War, the peaceful warrior refuses to pick up a gun.

[John D'Amelio]

Rustin declares himself a conscientious objector, which leads to a jail sentence. In federal prison during World War II for two and a half years, locked.

[Al Letson]

In a jail cell far from the Red Oaks of Westchester, they tell him to just be quiet and serve your time.

[John D'Amelio]

Rustin, being the man that he is, doesn't just go to prison and decide, well, I'll sit here until they let me out. But he decides he's going to organize in the prison against racial segregation.

[Al Letson]

Who is this man?

[John D'Amelio]

Just before he was about to launch a strike, prison officials pull him aside and bring him a up on charges of engaging in sexual activity with other inmates. And the remaining two years in prison were a torture for him.

[Al Letson]

Sh. Quiet little bird or we'll clip your wings don't fly too high or we'll push you down don't dream of the sky or we will wake you up.

[Bayard Rustin]

Then I get down on my knees and I pray.

[Al Letson]

The Lord but his voice won't be silent. He sings in the night Democratization and.

[Bayard Rustin]

Socialization, the Negro cannot do alone.

[Al Letson]

He sings in the night we are.

[Bayard Rustin]

Non violent because injury to one is injury to all.

[Al Letson]

He sings in the night now we.

[Bayard Rustin]

Are all one and if we don't know it, we will learn it the hard way.

[Al Letson]

Who is this man? Black, gay, pacifist, friend, activist, rebel rouser, Human being who changed the world but the history books left behind.

[Bayard Rustin]

We declare our right on this earth to be a human being, to be respected as a human being which we endure, intend to bring into existence by any means necessary. There is no major problem. There is no southern problem. There is no northern problem. There is only an American problem. So I'm happy tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

[Al Letson]

Now when most of us think about the civil rights movement, we tend to think about Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. Malcolm X. But all of that begins to happen in the mid-1950s. But Bayard, on the other hand, was doing his work in the 40s. A decade before the Montgomery bus boycott, Bayard and others set out on what they called the journey of reconciliation. In 1944, Irene Morgan, a black woman, got on a bus going from Virginia to Maryland. She was arrested for sitting in the white section. Her case went all the way to the Supreme Court, where they ruled it was unconstitutional to demand segregation on interstate travel. That ruling presented an opportunity to fight racial injustice directly. The organization that Bayard was working for, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, decided to send a mixed group of black and white men to travel together through the upper south to test the enforcement of the ruling.

[Bayard Rustin]

And we didn't know what was going to happen.

[Al Letson]

George Hauser worked with byard through the 40s and 50s and joined him on that journey.

[Bayard Rustin]

Each day we would decide on two guinea pigs.

[Al Letson]

Igal Radenko was another participant in the journey.

[Bayard Rustin]

I mean, a black and a white would sit together in the front, or two whites would sit in the back, or two blacks would sit in the front, and the others on the trip would act as observers so that if and when these cases came to court, they could act as witnesses.

[Al Letson]

The small, unlikely group started out from D.C. and made their way south. And for the most part, the trip went smoothly until April 13, 1947.

[Bayard Rustin]

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon in Chapel Hill, and there were an awful lot of taxicab drivers not doing very much business. Now, I was to be in the second group that day. We were staying at the home of Reverend Charles Jones, a Presbyterian minister in Chapel Hill. Bayard was in the first group, and the two persons who were in jeopardy were Joe Feldman white and Andy Johnson, black.

[Al Letson]

And I was sitting somewhere in the.

[Bayard Rustin]

Back over a wheel, and Bayard was.

[Al Letson]

Sitting just behind me. And then the bus driver sort of.

[Bayard Rustin]

Got into the bus ready to take off. He looked around countless passengers, and he saw these two people sitting together in the third seat behind him. And he came over and he told them they couldn't do it. So they were arrested immediately, both of them. The police station was just across the street. At that point, Bayard and Eagle, who were seated in the out of jeopardy, decided they would take the seats which the other two had just been arrested from. They then were arrested, and I came down with bail money.

[Al Letson]

And we saw a bunch of people.

[Bayard Rustin]

A growing number of people outside at the. At the bus station, muttering around and milling around and looking in our direction. And the center of this were the cabbies. You guys will never get out of town till alive tonight. They said to us. Well, Reverend Charlie Jones came down and we all piled in his car. The cab drivers followed us. These two cabs drew up in front of the house, and about eight or 10 men started across the lawn with. With clubs or sticks or something. And we were really, you know, in a sweat. Bayard was a very courageous guy. We stood together looking out the window at the taxi cub drivers from the front room of Charlie Jones home. And he smiled. He said, look, George, look at these guys. They're so angry. So we could. We could smile at the incident while it was taking place, but we're a little nervous about it at the same time because you don't know what's going to happen. And then another car came up, and some guy came out and talked to them, and they left. And my assumption, our assumption was that this guy said, well, let's not do it. And they opened up and the police came after about 20 minutes so that we were able to leave the house and then we proceeded on with the rest of the journey. We had 12 arrests that took place in the two weeks that we traveled. But we were before the main thrust of the civil rights movement. We were, in a sense, I guess you could say, pioneers.

[Al Letson]

The journey of reconciliation propels Byer to the forefront of the civil rights cause. But as we'll find out after the break, he soon makes a mistake that nearly cost him everything. Coming up, more from our State of the Reunion episode. But first, I want to remind you that there is a really easy way that you can keep up with all the important work we're doing here at Reveal. You can sign up for our free newsletter. Just go to revealnews.org newsletter to receive your weekly email reminding you about all of our good reporting. We have to stay connected now more than ever. All right. Thank you. And we'll be back soon. Museums are more than places we visit on a field trip across the country. Museums protect our shared history, care for wildlife and collections, strengthen local economies, support job training, and spark curiosity in people of all ages. Right now, you can help make sure museums stay strong for future generations. Museum Advocacy Day is a national moment when people contact Congress to ask for continued support for museums and the federal agencies that fund them. Learn how to take [e-mail] and tell your representatives that museums matter to education, to communities, to the economy and to our democracy. This is more to the story. I'm Al Letson, and this week we're bringing you an episode of my old show, State of the Reunion. It's all about the activist Bayard Rustin. Now, the late 40s is a heady time for Bayard. After the journey of reconciliation, he begins to travel abroad, spending time in India working with Gandhi's successor. And he's sought after in Africa by several independence movements fighting colonization. Now, when he returns to the States, he tours the country giving performances that are part lecture, part concerts. See, Bayard has an amazing gift as an orator, but he also has a beautiful voice.

[Bayard Rustin]

Now, this is a work song and very typical of the way in which all men raised their hammers together and they all fell together. Take this hammer.

[Al Letson]

He would lecture on the evils of colonialism and midway through the speech, sing a spiritual to illustrate his point.

[Bayard Rustin]

Carry it to the Captain.

[Al Letson]

Then one night in January 1953, on his speaking tour in Southern California, everything changes.

[John D'Amelio]

He goes out one evening after his work is over and meets two men and is in a parked car having sex.

[Al Letson]

Professor John D' Amelio has studied Bayard's life for over 12 years and has written one of the defining biographies on Bayard entitled Lost Profit.

[John D'Amelio]

And he is discovered in downtown Pasadena by the Los Angeles county police and he's arrested on a public lewdness charge along with the two other men who were in the car. And it becomes this huge public scandal.

[Bayard Rustin]

He looked desolate, he looked shattered.

[Al Letson]

Dave McReynolds was a young activist then who looked to Bayard as a mentor.

[Bayard Rustin]

And I went out to see Bayard when he was in the county jail. He had a 60 day term and he was completely shattered because this was not an arrest, which was a moral principle of any kind at all.

[Al Letson]

Sitting in that jail cell in Pasadena, he must have felt like everything he'd worked for was slipping through his fingers. And in the 50s, the stigma of being gay was a heavy burden to bear. What Jimmy didn't know was that Ralph was sick.

[Bayard Rustin]

A sickness that was not visible, like smallpox, but no less dangerous and contagious.

[Al Letson]

A sickness of the mind.

[Bayard Rustin]

You see, Ralph was a homosexual, A person who demanded.

[Al Letson]

Bayard's arrest makes national news. And this may be the lowest point in his life. Humiliated, not wishing to bring shame on the Fellowship of Reconciliation, he resigns. Eventually, he joins another peace organization, the War Resisters League, where he works on issues he's passionate about. The difference being is that he's moved out of the spotlight and concentrates his efforts behind the scene. And then in 1956, history comes calling.

[Bayard Rustin]

Just the other day, one of the fine citizens of our community, Mrs. Rosa Parks, was arrested because she refused to give up her seat for a white passenger.

[Al Letson]

Which brings us back to that night in Montgomery when Bayard first goes to see Dr. King.

[John D'Amelio]

This is, you know, one of the ways in which Bayard Rustin affects the course of history in a significant way. Dr. King, of course, proves to be a man of enormous talents. And he was also a young man who did not have political organizing experience. And that's what Bayard was able to provide. He was able to become Dr. King's tutor. a very early stage in King's career.

[Al Letson]

Bayard gives the Montgomery boycott something it desperately needs. Not just the expulsion of guns, but a righteous indignation they the feeling that they're on the right side of history. When the arrest warrants were issued for a number of the boycott's leaders, Bayer tells him, put on your Sunday best, go as a group, turn yourself in, make it a celebration. Show them that you are not scared. Show them that you are on the side of Justice. You see, the boycott tells blacks not just in Montgomery, but across the nation that they have power, that they can make change, that the future they dream of for their children is right around the corner. And they may not be able to take a break bus to get there. They may have to walk, carpool or take a taxi. It may take longer than they'd like, but they will get there. Byard knows that in order for the boycott to work, it has to spread beyond Montgomery. The protest catches the imagination of the nation. But now they had to cast their net wider.

[Bayard Rustin]

I had said to Dr. King that I don't think you can win in Montgomery unless these other places are better organized. The Dr. King said, what do you think we ought to do? And I said, I think there's only one thing to do and that is to bring all these groups into a single organization.

[Al Letson]

That conversation is the beginning of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. With the help of several others, Bayard and Dr. King gather some 60 ministers from across the South. Their goal is to to create an organization that will coordinate and support nonviolent direct action to fight segregation. Bayard serves as a liaison between King and several northern civil rights leaders. His long standing connections with prominent figures like A. Philip Randolph and A.J. musty prove beneficial to the young organization. After a series of victories in the south, they begin to plan mass demonstrations at the Democratic and Republican conventions. When Bayard's past catches up with him, Historian John d' Amelio and at that.

[John D'Amelio]

Point the Reverend Adam Clayton Powell from New York City, representative in Congress from Harlem, doesn't like how public Rustin is becoming, doesn't like that civil rights forces are going to target his Democratic Party. Doesn't like that he's not controlling what's happening in this political arena.

[Al Letson]

Powell, pressured by the Democratic Party and possibly his own ambitions, lets it be known to Dr. King that if he doesn't withdraw his support from the demonstrations, he'll release to the press that King and Bayard are lovers.

[John D'Amelio]

It's a completely ridiculous thing. There isn't a shred of truth to it. But it leads King to panic. And Bayard realizes that King is not going to defend him and stand up to Powell. And so Rustin chooses to resign.

[Al Letson]

And it happens again. Bayard's sexuality follows him like a shadow, a readily available weapon for his opponents to neutralize him and his work. In what has become a pattern, when these accusations surface, Byer chooses to remove himself from the front line and quietly works in the background. Occasionally he advises King from a distance, but he has no official role in the civil rights movement until A. Philip Randolph, who'd been a mentor to bayard since the 40s, begins to engage him once again.

[John D'Amelio]

By the beginning of 1963, the Civil Rights movement was so in the headlines and was creating so much upheaval that Rustin and Randolph, and I don't think one can ever know who brought it up first. But Rustin and Randolph, in a conversation together at the end of 1962, say, well, you know, in 1941, we talked about having a march on Washington, and we never did it. Maybe now is the time.

[Rachelle Horowitz]

The 1963 March on Washington was a long time a coming, so to speak.

[Al Letson]

Rachelle Horowitz has been working for Bayard ever since she was an idealistic college student in Brooklyn in the late 50s.

[Rachelle Horowitz]

And originally it was going to be a march for economic justice. But then events caught up with the planners, so to speak.

[Al Letson]

The Kennedy administration has just filed a civil rights bill that shifts and broadens the focus of the march from solely economic issues to include equal rights. Now, the leaders of all the major civil rights organizations all know that Bayard is the man to organize the march, but they're scared that his sexuality could become an issue. A. Philip Randolph, the elder statesman of civil rights, well respected by all parties, declares that he will be the organizer and he'll appoint his staff as he sees fit. And Bayard would be his right hand.

[Rachelle Horowitz]

Bayard was named the deputy director or some Mickey Mouse title, but everybody knew that it was Bayard who was really organizing and making this thing happen. We actually, I think, organized the march itself once everybody agreed to it in about eight to six weeks. And work began very early in the morning, ended very late at night, and continued on through Sundays, when often we'd have staff meetings and Bayard would give us the half day off at 3:00'. Clock. Well, by that time, it was 1963, I. I was a veteran, rust in hand, and he asked me if I would be the transportation coordinator, which I thought was pretty funny because I was 24 years old at that point and I didn't know how to drive. I was a typical New Yorker. But he said, no, no, you're compulsive, and I know that you will not lose one bus.

[Al Letson]

My job in preparation of the march was to help to bring as many poor people from the south to the march as possible. My name is Joyce Ladner. I met Byard Rustin in the summer of 1963 in New York. I had to go out around New York Metropolitan area of New York City to raise as much money as possible. One of my friends, Rochelle Horowitz, always says that each time I went out to raise money, I came back with enough to charter yet another bus to bring a busload of people up to the march.

[Rachelle Horowitz]

Bayard was absolutely adamant that this was going to be a peaceful day. And all the press before we planned the march was virtually hysterical. You know, that they'd have to call in the National Guard, that if all these black folks came to Washington, there would be riots. And Bayard was determined that not only would the march be peaceful, but it would go beyond that, that it would police itself and that it would be absolutely non violent.

[Bayard Rustin]

The major thing we decided was that we would have only black police inside the march policing and only white police on the fringes where the Ku Klux Klan and other bigots were coming in. So. So that you reduce the possibility of violence by having whites arresting whites who misbehave and blacks arresting blacks who misbehave.

[Rachelle Horowitz]

So virtually every day during the planning of the March, groups of 30 policemen and firemen would come up to march headquarters and Bayard would take them into a back alley, so to speak, and show them how to non violently move people in a crowd. You sort of do that with, by linking arms and pushing gently, and really trained them in nonviolence. He believed that if things are well organized, people will naturally be well behaved.

[Al Letson]

But for all the meticulous planning Bayard is doing, there are some things he has no control over.

[Bayard Rustin]

Bayard had been very frightened or worried that the gay issue would come up before the march. And Strom Thurmond took the floor of the Senate maybe three or four weeks before the date of the march.

[Al Letson]

Strom Thurmond, senator from South Carolina and bitter enemy of desegregation, stands on the Senate floor and rails against Bayard and the march. He calls Bayard a draft dodger, a communist, a homosexual, and includes details of his arrest. Panic spreads through the march's office. I mean, Bayard must feel like it's happening all over again. At the dawn of what could be his greatest accomplishment, a mistake from 10 years ago could take it all away. But a Philip Randolph would not be coward.

[Bayard Rustin]

Randolph calls a press conference because they have to deal with it. And Randolph, who was nothing if not.

[John D'Amelio]

Extremely dignified, said, how dare a segregationist like Strom Thurmond condemn someone for immorality. We stand by Bayard Rustin. He is our organizer. He is Mr. March on Washington. And it's that moment really that is the end of using the gay charge against Rustin effectively.

[Bayard Rustin]

The gay issue had been taken away, ironically, by Strom Thurmond. Five, four, three, two, one.

[Rachelle Horowitz]

Well, the day of the march was incredible. I think probably by 3 and 4 in the morning, we were all awake. We were on the Mall and Bayard had his pad and was doing everything. He was making sure that the sound system was working. The mall is dead.

[Bayard Rustin]

I'll tell you, I don't think I've ever been so nervous at the beginning. The one thing I remember above all others is the press was around us and they said, Mr. Rustin, it's five o' clock in the morning. You said there were going to be a quarter of a million people here. We don't see 5,000 people yet. Where are they all? I took a blank piece of paper out of my pocket and looked at it. I pulled my watch out and I looked at it and I said, gentlemen, everything, everything is going according to schedule.

[Rachelle Horowitz]

And I am standing next to him and I said to him, bayard, what are you talking about? He said, I don't know. I just made it up. And sure enough, at a given time, people began to come off the trains and the buses arrived.

[Bayard Rustin]

What about that trademark? Do you want to be free? Around 9:00 clock morning, from every direction that you looked, you could see these people coming in and cars, buses on foot. It was absolutely exhilarating. It was mostly exhilarating because the crowd was about 50, 50 black and white.

[Al Letson]

And the place built up so rapidly. I saw people marching from, I guess, the train station or wherever the buses were marching, I don't know, a hundred deep or whatever, but each group, they were marching under banners and ask you.

[Bayard Rustin]

To assemble in your respective groups and begin the march for freedom.

[Al Letson]

Now.

[Bayard Rustin]

I pledge my heart and my mind and my body to the achievement of social peace.

[Al Letson]

We must say that we cannot be patient. We do not want our freedom gradually.

[Bayard Rustin]

But we want to be free now. Slow down. We will not stop our militant, peaceful demonstrations. We will not come off of the streets. 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 he's got you and me brother in his hands he's got you and me Rustin, deputy director of the march, will read to.

[John D'Amelio]

The man at the end of the rally at the Lincoln Memorial. Rustin gets his moment in the sun when he leads the crowd in a recitation of what the the 10 demands of the March on Washington were.

[Bayard Rustin]

The first demand is that we have effective civil rights legislation.

[John D'Amelio]

And he reads each of them into the microphone standing on the podium and hears back the shout from all of the people who are assembled there on the Mall.

[Bayard Rustin]

What do you say? We demand that segregation be ended in every school district in the year 1963.

[John D'Amelio]

You know, at this point, he knows the march has been as successful as it can possibly be, and he had a lot to do with it.

[Bayard Rustin]

Some people say, well, it was more like a picture than a protest. Well, when a quarter of a million people can come to speak to their government, and it is more like a picnic than a protest, that is a salute to everyone who attended and to the response which our government gave. I believe the March on Washington said to the American people, we are now capable of having that kind of love and affection and absolute absence of bigotry, which means we can become one nation.

[Al Letson]

We all remember Martin Luther King giving the I have a Dream speech. It's a beautiful moment in American history, but it wouldn't have happened without Bayard Rustin and A. Philip Randolph. So how do you follow that up after you've made history, what do you do next? That answer might surprise you. I'm Al Letson, and on today's show, we're featuring the life of Mr. Bayard Rustin as the chief architect of the March on Washington. Bayard has made history. The events a huge success, earning Bayard and A. Philip Randolph the COVID of Life magazine. The march gives an urgency to the civil rights bill working its way through Congress. But the afterglow of that event doesn't last long. As Bayard's assistant, Rachelle Horowitz, recalls, after.

[Rachelle Horowitz]

The march itself, I think we had a week or two of euphoria where we thought, we will now go forward. We will pass this bill. We're going to walk into the sunshine, you know. And then there was the bombing in Birmingham, where the four little girls were killed.

[Bayard Rustin]

Eighteen days after the March on Washington, Birmingham, Alabama, a bomb exploded in the 16th Street Baptist Church just before a Sunday morning service. Fifteen people were injured.

[John D'Amelio]

Four children were killed.

[Al Letson]

These are hard times for the United States. The death of those four little girls shatters an idealism that was born on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. And just four months later, President Kennedy is assassinated.

[Rachelle Horowitz]

So that ended euphoria. And we knew that the struggle had to continue and would take a long time.

[Al Letson]

Lyndon B. Johnson becomes president, and with his legislative muscle, he's able to pass several significant laws that ban Discrimination on the base of race. With the federal government marching in step with the civil rights agenda, Bayard decides now is the time to shift strategies.

[Bayard Rustin]

We are in a totally different period. In the old period, all the youngsters needed was bravery and perseverance. They just sat at the restaurants, they swam in the swimming pools. No matter what they did to them, they arrested them, they'd come back, they beat them, they'd come back, back and finally get a breakthrough. No young Negroes today with mere courage and perseverance are going to make any contribution.

[John D'Amelio]

I think Rustin starts marching a bit out of step with many others in the black freedom struggle.

[Al Letson]

Professor John d', Amelio.

[John D'Amelio]

Don't spend all your time in one rally or protest after another, but throw yourself into the political system until we become the people who actually are making the laws of the land.

[Bayard Rustin]

I say, my dear friends, that no economic or social order has ever been developed on the basis of color. It must be developed on the basis of class.

[John D'Amelio]

Rustin developed something called the Freedom Budget, which was a document that was designed to show how the federal government, by reapportioning its resources, could actually end poverty in America and make everyone free.

[Bayard Rustin]

Because the problem is not plain prejudice which is there in all people. It is that the economic and social order. Where there are not enough jobs in this society, where there is not enough housing in this society, where there is not enough medical care in this society.

[Al Letson]

Bayard's concepts have evolved as he moves from protest to politics. The idea of working inside the machine to achieve your agenda. Now, we tend to think of events as singular, mutually exclusive, but that's usually not how it occurs. Events are often overtaken by other events, and. And the national agenda shifts. For example, currently we're at war while our economy is struggling, scientists are worried about global warming, healthcare is an issue, and so on and so on and so on. All of that happening at the same time. So when Bayard is announcing his Freedom Budget, he has several factors that begin to work against him. One of them is the younger generation of civil rights activists.

[John D'Amelio]

It wasn't a popular message at the time because a younger generation was feeling its strength and its power as protesters and didn't have much faith in the political system to make the kind of change they wanted.

[Al Letson]

Many of us feel. Many of our generation feel that they're getting ready to commit genocide against us. Young activists like Carmichael, who'd once idolized by it, were finding their voice. And the tenor of that voice was very different from the stances that Byard has taken.

[Bayard Rustin]

We have to recognize who our major enemy is. The major enemy is not your brother, flesh of your flesh and blood of your blood. The major enemy is the hunky and his institutions of racism. That's the major enemy. That is the major enemy. We want black power, whatever that is, with no real definition of it. We want self respect. We want Negro dignity, all of which I am in favor of. But it is another blind alley because dignity and self respect must spring from the economic and social position which you hold in the society.

[Al Letson]

While the black power movement is gaining momentum, the war in Southeast Asia is peaking at a fevered pitch. Vietnam takes all the oxygen in the room, leaving Bayard's causes in the background.

[Bayard Rustin]

Psychologically, the war in Vietnam has trapped us. It has split the civil rights movement down the middle. It has caused many white people who were in it to say that must wait now until we stop Vietnam.

[Rachelle Horowitz]

There were disagreements between him and Dr. King about Dr. King's opposing the war and bringing the movement into it. He thought the civil rights movement had to stay separate and not be. Not that individuals couldn't do it, but that it had to be a distinct movement and not get into that controversy.

[Al Letson]

Bayard is a peace activist who strangely doesn't come out hard against the war. In a time when pacifist organizations were in overdrive, Bayard was largely silent.

[Bayard Rustin]

My own views on the war were complicated, as most conflicts that democracy is involved in are complicated.

[Rachelle Horowitz]

It was a question of priorities. He opposed the Vietnam War. He absolutely believed that his job and the most important thing he could do at this point was continue to pursue the black economic struggle. And he saw it being subsumed by the opposition to the Vietnam War.

[John D'Amelio]

Where Rustin departed from many anti war activists is that he refused to demonize Lyndon Johnson. Rustin believed that Lyndon Johnson had done more than any other president since Abraham Lincoln to forward racial equality in the United States. And he was not willing to write off Johnson because Johnson was fighting this unpopular war.

[Rachelle Horowitz]

I think psychologically, the leadership of the pacifist organizations that he belonged to felt abandoned. And I think they never understood right from the beginning that his main interest was primarily the struggle for black freedom. And so I think there was a psychological problem.

[Al Letson]

And so in the midst of pushing for his Freedom Budget, these factors merged to form the perfect storm.

[Bayard Rustin]

Now I come therefore, to the Freedom Budget, because the Freedom Budget is for the purpose of restoring hope.

[Al Letson]

We talk about survival, that's all. They can cut all that junk about poverty program, education, housing, welfare.

[Bayard Rustin]

There is only one difference between a man who is rich and one who is poor. One has money and one does not. We're in Vietnam to fulfill one of the most solemn pledges of the American nation. Until the President stands up and says, says we're bringing all of the troops home as quickly as we can bring them home, the anti war sentiment in.

[Al Letson]

The country will continue to grow.

[Bayard Rustin]

And if anyone expects me to go back to the ghetto and tell Negroes that I've just been talking with my white liberal friends who have convinced me that nothing for you can be done to the war in Vietnam is over, then I think I must have holes in my head. And you are dumb enough to walk around continuing to identify yourself with that party. You are not only a chump, but.

[Al Letson]

You'Re a traitor to your race.

[Bayard Rustin]

We have to fight for the war on poverty. Why do we have to fight for it? Because we must continue to establish that this nation has an obligation to eliminate poverty.

[Al Letson]

Bayard's strategy is falling apart. The freedom budget fails. Despite early support from hundreds of groups and congressmen, the Black power movement has labeled him an Uncle Tom. And the members of the pacifist community, a community he's been a part of since the 40s, are leery of him. Bayard is a big idea man in a nation that no longer has the stomach for a social movement of that scale. But that doesn't stop Bayard, who continues to work in the trenches, co founding the A. Philip Randolph Institute, an organization that works on civil rights and labor issues. It's in these years that once again, Bayard's personal life takes center stage. But this time it's a little different. Well, we met really quite by chance, you know, in New York City. We were just kind of waiting for a light to change and looked at each other and said hello and started talking. At that moment, I wasn't quite sure who he was, except that he was a very attractive, dignified, well dressed, friendly man. Walter Nagle was bayard's partner for 10 years. You know, in his personal life, he was really very warm and friendly and with a wonderful sense of humor and kind of an impish, devilish kind of sense of humor, playing practical jokes on people and doing things like that and really very generous in spirit. Walter is much younger than Bayard, and because there was no marriage or civil union for them, in 1982, Bayard legally adopted Walter. He wanted to do something to protect my rights. And also we were very aware of a situation where a partner becomes sick and is in the hospital and their Loving partner has turned away because they have no legal rights to visit and to, you know, have any say in their health care. And we wanted to do whatever we could to avoid that kind of a situation. So we began a legal adoption process, which eventually went through. It was through Bayard's relationship with Walter that after a lifetime of activism and speaking out on issue after issue, his sexuality became something he could speak more publicly about. Now, Bayard had never hidden his sexuality, but I think that by the time he met me, a lot of.

[Rachelle Horowitz]

His.

[Al Letson]

Associations with his sexual orientation, at least in terms of the public perception, they were negative. You know, they were negative. Bayard had always been comfortable with his sexuality, but it'd been used against him for so long, it was hard to shed all those bad memories. I think perhaps my relationship with Bayard, if anything, affirmed the sense of the idea that you can have a positive relationship with a person of the same sex. You know, here was somebody who, you know, we had a loving, peaceful, committed relationship for 10 years. And I think that that may have made him feel more comfortable talking about it.

[John D'Amelio]

In the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, when Rustin was experiencing all of these attacks around being gay, most people didn't think of sexuality and sexual identity as having anything to do with politics and social justice. By the 1980s, things are changing quite a bit. In the United States, there was a gay liberation movement.

[Al Letson]

Bayard gets involved with the struggle for gay rights. He begins to speak at gay conferences and address meetings of gay activists. He also uses his clout to champion gay causes. You see, many of the people he had worked with in the past had eventually done what Bayard proposed and moved from protest to politics.

[Bayard Rustin]

The barometer for judging the character of people in regard to human rights is now those who consider themselves gay, homosexual, lesbian. The judgment as to whether you can trust for the future, the social advancement depending on people will be judged on where they come out on that question. And if they come out poorly on that question, they will become out poorly on all other human rights.

[Al Letson]

In 1986, Bayer testifies in front of the New York City Council. A bill he's lobbied for to add sexual orientation to the city's human rights law is being challenged, he tells the members of the council. History demonstrates that no group is ultimately safe from prejudice, bigotry and harassment so long as any group is subject to special negative treatment. The bill remains unchanged, and this will be Bayard's final victory.

[Bayard Rustin]

I ain't got long to stay here Tombstones of Buston Poor sinner stands trembling.

[Al Letson]

A year later, August 24, 1987, Bayard Rustin would pass away from a ruptured appendix. In his obituary, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan was quoted as saying, he gave us love. He gave us peace. Many years ago, someone, I can't remember who, told me that Martin Luther King's chief advisor was a gay man. But no one knows about him. I did a little research and I was shocked because he had done so, so much and I'd never heard of him. I thought if I ever had the opportunity, I would tell people about Bayard Rustin. Because it's stories like his that make us the United States of America. All across the country, people are doing things to help in their community, to help each other. And they are the reason this country is great.

[Bayard Rustin]

Sit down. Sit down. I can't sit down. Just got to heaven. Wanna move around.

[Al Letson]

This episode of State of the Reunion originally aired February 2010. The show was produced by Tina Antolini and edited by Taki Telenides. The beats were by Willie Evans Jr. And the State of the Reunion team included Ian D', Souza, Breton Crozier, Laura Starcheski, Delaney Hall, Zach Rosen and Brie Burge. Thanks to Columbia University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the LBJ Presidential Library, Cornell University, and Pike Malinowski. More to the stories produced by members of the Justice Society, Josh sanburn and Carl McGurk. Allison. Theme music and additional scoring by Fernando My Man Yo Arruda and Jay Breezy, Mr. Jim Briggs. Lastly, a reminder. We are listener supported. That means listeners like you, you can help us thrive by making a gift today. Just go to revealnews.org gift again, that's revealnews.org gift and thank you. I'm Al Letson and you know, let's do this again next week. This is more to the story. From prx.