Bayard Rustin

Arrest Date	22 August 1942
Arrest Location	Nashville, Tennessee
Charge	Arrested for refusing to move to the back of a bus. One of the first Freedom Riders.

Historical Record

Bayard Rustin was the principal organizer of the 1963 March on Washington — the largest civil rights demonstration in American history. His homosexuality was used to sideline him by those who feared giving opponents ammunition. He organized brilliantly from the margins and never stopped. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously in 2013.

Full Profile Coming

The full Good Trouble profile for Bayard Rustin — including sourced archival photography, expanded biographical history, and complete arrest record — is in development. This page will be updated as the archive grows.

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“We stand on the shoulders of giants. We plant trees in whose shade we will never sit.”

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