[Transcript: "Who's a historical figure people never talk about?"
Oh, I have one for this. Now, a lot of people talk about Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, who are towering figures in the civil rights movement. But, the person people do not talk about– and he might just be the most important person in that movement– is Bayard Rustin. He is the person who taught Martin Luther King about civil disobedience, he debated Malcolm X about integration, and the March On Washington– which Martin Luther King was just a speaker– as you can see down there, Deputy Director, the person who organized that event was Bayard Rustin. There he goes with MLK, there he is with James Baldwin, there he goes with Malcolm.
Now for the sad part. A lot of reason people don't hear about Bayard Rustin: he was an openly gay Black man during that time. And, he was fully aware of the stigma that was associated with that at the time, and he did not want to jeopardize the movement. Listen to this story. When Bayard Rustin would go meet with Martin Luther King, he would hide in the trunk of the car, because he didn't want his presence to taint the movement.
There is a great PBS documentary about him, and if you are not familiar with Bayard Rustin you should be, because he is a towering figure in the history of America, and especially the civil rights movement.]
