Bayard Rustin: The Man Behind the March on Washington

Throughline

NPR

Society & Culture, History, Documentary

4.7 • 15K Ratings

🗓️ 25 February 2021

⏱️ 71 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Bayard Rustin, the man behind the March on Washington, was one of the most consequential architects of the civil rights movement you may never have heard of. Rustin imagined how nonviolent civil resistance could be used to dismantle segregation in the United States. He organized around the idea for years and eventually introduced it to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. But his identity as a gay man made him a target, obscured his rightful status and made him feel forced to choose, again and again, which aspect of his identity was most important.

Transcript

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0:00.0	We lose me, Tariya. Come for the carry of, say, lost me, Tariya.
0:15.0	We close off the same things that white citizens possess.
0:19.0	All of their rights.
0:21.0	Freedom now movement, hear me.
0:23.0	We are requesting all citizens to move into Washington, to go by plane, by car,
0:29.0	bus, 250,000 people black and white marched on the nation's capital.
0:35.0	Nationalized this southern freedom struggle.
0:38.0	It was really glorious.
0:45.0	August 28, 1963, the march on Washington, lives in many of our minds as a single moment,
0:52.0	a single voice, a single dream.
0:56.0	I have a dream and one thing.
1:00.0	But what you probably don't know is there's a man standing behind Martenuta King Jr.
1:05.0	as he's making this speech just a few feet to his right.
1:09.0	He's tall, thin, wearing thick, black frame glasses.
1:13.0	And this moment would never have happened without him.
1:17.0	His name?
1:19.0	by Augustine.
1:21.0	I'm Ramteen Adablui.
1:31.0	I'm Ramdabnidfette.
1:32.0	And in this final episode of our imagining new world series, the man behind the march on
1:39.4	Washington.
1:46.4	I started with saying, add a demonstration in the shower, standing over the stove suddenly.
	...

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