Bayard Rustin, PBS, and CCHS

In case you missed hearing the PBS radio special today (Mon. Jan. 16) on West Chester’s greatest contribution to civil rights, Bayard Rustin, you can still hear it at State of the Reunion.  Here is the introductory online text:

Bayard Rustin – Who Is This Man?

A New Black History Month Special from State of the Re:Union

August 28^th, 1963 will forever be tied to Martin Luther King Jr.’s hallowed “I Have a Dream Speech.” This historic moment would probably have never come to fruition if it weren’t for a man standing in King’s shadow, Mr. Bayard Rustin.   Bayard Rustin was a man with a number of seemingly incompatible labels: black, gay, Quaker . . . identifications that served to earn him as many detractors as admirers. Although he had numerous passions and pursuits, his most transformative act, one that certainly changed the course of American history, was to counsel MLK on the use of non-violent resistance.

Rustin also helped to engineer the March on Washington and frame the Montgomery bus boycott.  With such lofty achievements, why isn’t Rustin considered an icon of both Civil Rights and humanity?   Why is Rustin not synonymous with Civil Rights? How could a person who changed the course of American history not be a household name? Was he purposely kept out of the history books? On State of the Re:Union, host Al Letson normally sets out to take listeners to a specific place, but for this special, the program takes the audience to a specific time in history that shapes the way we live now. More than just a Black History Month special, we found his complex story one for all seasons.

You can stream or download the entire Bayard Rustin radio episode, or listen to it broken up by segment.

At the same site you can also see pictures of Rustin and hear samples of his acclaimed singing (including commentary: “the voice that was first heard in his grandmother’s house in West Chester PA was now being heard around the world…”).

This is actually the same program I blogged about a year ago today in “Bayard Rustin: listen Monday noon / basic information” (1/16/11), but this year PBS has put a lot of valuable stuff on its web site.  Please explore it!

In recognition of Rustin’s 100th birthday, which would have been Mach 17, 2012, the Chester County Historical Society is organizing an exhibit:

Bayard Rustin’s Local Roots

Opens February 2, 2012

Bayard Rustin (March 17, 1912 – August 24, 1987), whose 100^th birthday would have been March 2012, was an American leader in social movements for civil rights, socialism, pacifism and non-violence, and gay rights.  He was also a West Chester native who was active here and across the nation in the struggle for human rights and economic justice for over 50 years.  Rustin’s extensive background in the theory, strategies, and tactics of nonviolent action proved invaluable his close association with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  This exhibit will explore how Rustin became who he was because of his experiences and environment here in Chester County.  

Our deepest gratitude to The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Heritage Philadelphia Program, The Philadelphia Foundation, and PGN for their support of our exhibit.

As part of this program, CCCS aims to chronicle the various places Rustin and his family members lived in West Chester over the years, and also to display memorabilia and preserve reminiscences involving Rustin.  If you can help, please contact Chester County Historical Society.

I’ll end with two Rustin quotes (from the end of PBS’s episode 3) that we can all mull over beneficially:

“We all are one, and if we don’t know it, we will learn it the hard way.”

“The problem can never be stated in terms of black and white.”

What “hard way”?  What “problem”?

My view: those quotes and everything Bayard Rustin ever stood for, are about social justice, the exact opposite of the cynical old slogan “Divide and conquer.” 

In short, Rustin had the vision of an American people, even a world people, with common interests and goals, not fragmented by the color lines, class lines, and religion lines that are, surprisingly and most unfortunately, gaining in divisiveness as we start to move through the 21st century.

“I have come here to proclaim humanity,” he said (quoted on the podcast of his singing, above).

PS Jan. 18: I just discovered a  brief video dramatizing Rustin’s arrest and chain gang experience on YouTube.  For his influential narrative “Twenty-two days on a chain gang” see my earlier post.