Bayard Rustin, March 17, 1912 - August 24, 1987, was an American leader in social movements for civil rights, socialism, pacifism and non-violence, and gay rights. He was born and raised in Pennsylvania where his family was involved in civil rights work. In 1932, Rustin entered Wilberforce University, a historically black college (HBCU) in Ohio operated by the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. In 1936, he moved to Harlem, New York City and earned a living as a nightclub and stage singer, and continued activism for civil rights. As an entertainer, he was a classically trained singer, comfortable with singing Elizabethan songs as well as Negro spirituals.After completing an activist training program conducted by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Rustin began studying at City College of New York. There he became involved in efforts to defend and free the Scottsboro Boys, nine young black men in Alabama who were accused of raping two white women. He joined the Young Communist League in 1936. Soon after coming to New York City, he became a member of Fifteenth Street Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).Rustin promoted the philosophy of nonviolence and the practices of nonviolent resistance, which he had observed while working with Gandhi's movement in India. He recognized Martin Luther King, Jr.'s leadership, and helped to organize the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to strengthen King's leadership. Rustin was a leading strategist of the civil rights movement, chief organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which was headed by A. Philip Randolph, president of the Brotherhood of Pullman Porters, the first all-black labor-union.Despite the fact that he played an important role in the movement, Rustin was relegated to the shadows of civil rights history mainly due to his sexual orientation. Public discomfort with homosexuality was the norm. The civil rights leadership shunned Rustin regardless of his skills and contributions to the struggle. A documentary on Rustin's life and times titled Brother Outsider, that was lauded at the Sundance Festival, contributed to some renewed recognition. On November 20, 2013, President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Rustin the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Show less «