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Bayard Rustin Sings Most of you (I hope) know a little of the history of Bayard Rustin, and may have seen the headlines in Feb 2020 when California Governor Gavin Newsome posthumously pardoned Rustin for his 1953 arrest and misdemeanor sodomy charge. That shadow hung over him during all the years he worked with Dr Martin Luther King Jr as a champion in the Civil Rights Movement. The shadow kept him more to the sidelines although he worked as an influential advisor to King. Working for many causes in his life he finally became involved in gay rights activism in the 1980s. In 1982 as a means of protecting his partner Walter Naegle, he adopted him, the only way then to form a legal bond for their relationship. And in 2013 President Obama posthumously presented to Naegle, in Rustin's behalf with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Since his death in 1987, Bayard Rustin has been honored with many awards even including buildings being named after him, and he has been the subject of books and documentaries. But did you know Rustin was a singer? Back in his college days, at Wilberforce College (Ohio) he sang and toured the country with the Wilberforce Quartet. He was already a Civil Rights activist when he recorded two 10" vinyl albums around 1952, singing spirituals and Elizabethan songs. In 1973 a benefit concert for the Young People's Socialist League, NYC, was recorded, with Rustin talking about the songs. That was entitled "Spirituals, Work and Freedom Songs," and was released on a cassette tape.
1952
date unknown, probably early 1950s
****************** Below,
a live concert, 2/15/73
From the tape, Listen to Oh
Freedom (with intro about Juneteenth) Below, late 1940s
Dr King & Bayard Rustin
My
Blog Post on Rustin ************** Rustin’s
influence goes on, and one example is the sampling of a speech by him,
used to start Listen to “We Out” by Deep Dickollective
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