So who was Bayard Rustin?
There are a variety of interesting historical documents in our Collectible Books, Maps, & Documents Auction, which will open for live-online bidding on Wednesday, September 17th at 10:00 am. There are numerous letters from former presidents, including a group from William Howard Taft written over many years that addresses both his success in the 1908 presidential election and his appointment to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court more than a decade later. There is a humorous letter from Orville Wright that connects nicely to the preliminary plans for the Wright Brothers Memorial Museum in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, which are also being offered in this auction.
As the Books, Maps, and Documents Director, I see interesting documents from well-known historical figures regularly. However, one document in this auction struck me specifically because it was from an important individual who is not particularly famous at all. It is a letter written by civil rights activist Bayard Rustin (1912-1987), a man who made a significant impact both in the United States and abroad, yet few people know his name.
So who was Bayard Rustin?

  • Rustin fought for human rights throughout his life. He was a part of many social movements: he advocated for racial and economic equality, workers’ rights, and the rights of refugees, and later in his career he was active in the LGBTQ+ movement.
  • Rustin participated in and helped to organize the Journey of Reconciliation in 1947, bringing him here to North Carolina. In what is often considered the first Freedom Ride, a group of activists traveled on buses in four different southern states. Four of the men, including Rustin, were arrested in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, they were convicted at the courthouse in nearby Hillsborough, and sentenced to work on a chain gang.
  • Rustin championed nonviolence. He was raised in a Quaker family, and therefore, the values of peace and equality were instilled in him from a young age. His devotion to peaceful activism was further supported by his study of Gandhian principles of non-violence during a trip to India in the late 1940s.
  • Rustin was an important advisor to Martin Luther King Jr., and worked alongside him and others to found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957.
  • Rustin was the principal organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
    • While not exhaustive, this list of Rustin’s achievements demonstrates the undeniable mark he made on history. While the March on Washington, his most impressive accomplishment, is not specifically addressed in the letter offered in this auction, the note was written just months before and it tells us a great deal about Rustin’s extensive efforts as an activist. The letter focuses on the work he was doing with the World Peace Brigade in Africa in the winter of 1963, demonstrating that his work was not just confined to the United States.
    Due to the criticism and discrimination he faced during his lifetime, Rustin never became a renowned figure. However, this is finally changing. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013, and in 2022 the convictions of the riders in the Journey of Reconciliation were vacated in the same courthouse they stood in seventy-five years earlier. Rustin is also the subject of several books, as well as the award-winning 2023 film Rustin that was produced by Barack and Michelle Obama’s company Higher Ground. And, as I write this, an exhibition devoted to Rustin’s work is on view at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee.

    I invite you to visit our gallery to preview this letter, as well as many other important pieces of history and books that are being offered in our Collectible Books, Maps, & Documents Auction. This auction opens for live-online bidding on Wednesday, September 17th at 10:00 am. Pre-bidding is available now.

    CONTACT THE DIRECTOR

    Emily Kerrigan
    Books, Maps & Documents Director
    emilyk@lelandlittle.com
    Collectible Books, Maps, & Documents Auction
    September 17th at 10:00 am ET