Dear Friend,

As we reflect on Dr. King’s historic contributions to the mission of justice and civil rights, we often lose sight of the lesser-known heroes who helped him advance a dream of equality in the U.S. 

Bayard Rustin was one of them. As a close adviser to Dr. King, he was critically important to the civil rights movement. 

Long before it was widely accepted, Rustin was an out gay civil rights leader fighting to end segregation and racial discrimination at all levels of life in the U.S.

He was key to organizing the 1963 March on Washington—at the time, the largest demonstration in U.S. history—which helped accelerate the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964. 

Sadly, Rustin’s orientation kept him behind the scenes and his influence absent in many history books. 

Today, when you remember Martin Luther King, please think of Bayard Rustin, too.