PEORIA, Ill. – A highly influential, but mostly unknown, player in the Civil Rights movement is getting a spotlight shined on him in Peoria.
The Dirksen Congressional Center will be hosting a celebration for Bayard Rustin Friday night. The event at the Peoria Riverfront Museum will include a screening of the documentary “Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin.” There will also be a panel discussion featuring producers of the documentary, and Rustin’s life partner Walter Naegle.
The Dirksen Center’s Tiffany White says Dr. King and former President Lyndon Johnson are the names most discussed as leaders of the Civil Rights movement, but figures such as Rustin were “essential, but underappreciated.”
Rustin served as one of the leaders of the Freedom Rides in the 1940’s, and a chief architect of the 1963 March on Washington.
Rustin also was a mentor to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and helped Dr. King adopt a style of non-violence protests during the 1960’s Civil Rights movement.
“For the first time in our history, these activists were taking a non-violence approach that essential change and essential progress towards greater freedom and justice that we continue to advance today,” White said. “That approach was possible because of Bayard Rustin.”
White says while Rustin was an important figure in the Civil Rights movement, because of who he was, he was largely pushed to behind the scenes roles.
“He was pushed to the side because of the fact that he was a very openly gay man in the 1950’s and 1960’s. And, as such, he was kind of considered to be a liability to the outward image of the movement.”
Rustin’s activism continued into the fight for gay rights in the 1970’s and 80’s.
Rustin passed away in 1987. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by former President Barack Obama in 2013.
The event at the Riverfront Museum begins at 5:00 P.M. on Friday, August 23rd, with tickets $30.
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