Bayard Rustin is pictured below. Ruskin worked in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He also spent time with Gandhi and learned non-violence from him and convinced Dr. Martin Luther King to adopt nonviolence as a political strategy.
Thanks to @RaisingGreatMen for tweeting the link.
2 comments:
Rustin.... not Ruskin.
He's a man who would have been much more popular had it not been for his sexual preference. As Dr. King's right hand man, Dr. King was put into a tight spot. He knew the work Rustin had done and could do for civil rights, but being a Christian, Dr. King didn't agree with Bayard's lifestyle, and was sensitive to the idea of being too closely related to him in the public eye.
He also convinced King to go the Gandhian non-violence route. He was an amazing man. I suggest watching Brother Outsider to learn more.
He was also the primary organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Weeks before the march, Senator Strom Thurmond attacked Rustin on the floor of the senate, calling him a homosexual, a draft-dodger and a communist - ironically increasing the support for Rustin. Nice article here by Henry Louis Gates Jr. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/100-amazing-facts/who-designed-the-march-on-washington/
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