Making Contact

Giving Bayard Rustin His Flowers (encore)

Today, we continue celebrating Black history and heritage with a special encore episode honoring an often forgotten civil rights figure, Bayard Rustin. The organizer of the 1963 march on Washington, Rustin was a trusted advisor to labor leader A. Phillip Randolph and to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As a gay man, a pacifist, and a practitioner of nonviolence, Rustin dedicated his life to racial equality, economic justice, and ending warfare. This episode combines film excerpts, insightful interviews, and speeches from this important contributor to the civil rights movement, who envisioned and organized for the best future.