Primary Sources: People - The 1960s: Rustin, Bayard

"In 1947 Rustin led a group of whites and blacks on a “Journey of Reconciliation” to challenge racial segregation on inter-state buses. The willingness of Rustin and his companions to undergo arrest – at one point serving 30 days on a North Carolina chaingang – provided an important example for the more famous Freedom Rides of 1960."

"African-American civil rights activist Bayard Rustin advised Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., on the Montgomery bus boycott. In this excerpt from his diary, Rustin describes how the city's black residents found ways to get to and from work without using the buses."

"In this oral history Bayard Rustin offers his opinion about why the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, held on August 28, 1963, was a success. Rustin was an organizer of the march along with many others, including A. Philip Randolph, an African-American labor leader. Randolph had also organized the March on Washington Movement in 1941 which, through the threat of a mass march on Washington, persuaded President Franklin Roosevelt to issue an executive order banning discrimination in government employment, defense industries, and training programs. The 1963 march is best known for the stirring oratory of the "I Have a Dream" speech delivered by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr."