Meet Bayard Rustin, often-forgotten civil rights activist, gay rights advocate, union organizer, pacifist and man of compassion for all in trouble

Bayard Rustin
Meet Bayard Rustin, often-forgotten civil rights activist, gay rights advocate, union organizer, pacifist and man of compassion for all in trouble (The Conversation)

Bayard Rustin led a long and complicated life dedicated to the fight for equal rights. Targeted by the FBI, Rustin became a close adviser to Martin Luther King Jr.

As I began writing “Bayard Rustin: American Dreamer,” my biography of the 20th-century radical leader and activist, one of my colleagues cautioned me not to “fall in love.”This, of course, is good advice for any biographer, and I tried to follow it.But it wasn’t easy, because Bayard Rustin was America’s signature radical voice during the…

The history of the raised fist, a global symbol of fighting oppression

George Floyd Memorial - A young man and woman hug each other in shared grief while the woman raises a fist.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/history-of-raised-fist-global-symbol-fighting-oppression by James Stout (National Geographic)

The forceful salute is intertwined with some of the 20th century’s most tumultuous events, including conflicts with fascism.

One of the earliest known instances in the U.S. of a protester brandishing a raised fist occurred in 1913, when “Big Bill” Haywood spoke to strikers during the Paterson silk strike in New Jersey. Haywood, a founding member of the union Industrial Workers of the World, preached working-class solidarity across all races and trades. Source:…

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