Time on Two Crosses: The Collected Writings of Bayard Rustin

by Bayard Rustin

Overview

In his own voice, the history of the civil right movement told by the black gay adviser to Martin Luther King, Jr. and the organizer of the 1963 March on Washington. Bayard Rustin, the famed openly-gay African American organizer, taught Martin Luther King, Jr. strategies of nonviolence during the Montgomery Bus Boycott, thereby launching the birth of the Civil Rights Movement.

Widely acclaimed as a founding father of modern black protest, Rustin reached his pinnacle of notoriety in 1963 as organizer of the March on Washington. Long before the March on Washington and King's ascendance to international prominence, Rustin put his life on the line to challenge racial segregation. His open homosexuality, however, remained a point of contention among black church leaders, with controversy sometimes embroiling even King himself.

Time on Two Crosses showcases the extraordinary career of this black gay civil rights pioneer. Spanning five decades, the book combines classic texts ranging in topic from Gandhi's impact on African Americans, white supremacists in Congress, the antiwar movement, and the assassination of Malcolm X, with never-before published selections on the call for gay rights, Louis Farrakhan, affirmative action, AIDS, and women’s rights.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781573446334
Publisher:	Cleis Press
Publication date:	08/01/2003
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	NOOK Book
Pages:	400
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Devon W. Carbado is the editor of Black Men on Race, Gender, and Sexuality. He lives in Los Angeles. Black Like Us, 2nd Edition "This rich anthology will take your breath away." — The Advocate "Skillfully unfolds the black queer voice." — Out Magazine "This enormously powerful and expansive book covers the eras from 1900 to 2000 in dozens of entries that showcase writers who are household names, and others who aren’t, as America experienced sea changes around gender, race, and sexual orientation." —The Urban News

Table of Contents

Foreword Barack Obama vii

A Word from Walter Naegle viii

Introduction ix

Part 1 The Making of a Movement

Nonviolence vs. Jim Crow (1942) 1

The Negro and Nonviolence (1942) 6

Letter to the Draft Board (1943) 11

We Challenged Jim Crow (1947) 14

Civil Disobedience, Jim Crow, and the Armed Forces (1948) 28

Twenty-Two Days on a Chain Gang (1949) 31

Montgomery Diary (1956) 58

Fear in the Delta (1956) 66

New South…Old Politics (1956) 95

Even in the Face of Death (1957) 102

Part 2 The Politics of Protest

The Meaning of Birmingham (1963) 110

Preamble to the March on Washington (1963) 112

From Protest to Politics: The Future of the Civil Rights Movement (1964) 116

Some Lessons from Watts (1965) 130

The Mind of the Black Militant (1967) 139

Guns, Bread, and Butter (1967) 147

The Anatomy of Frustration (1968) 151

No More Guns (1969) 160

Part 3 African American Leadership

Bayard Rustin Meets Malcolm X (1960) 164

Making His Mark: The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965) 173

In Defense of Muhammad Ali (1967) 182

Dr. King's Painful Dilemma (1967) 184

Reflections on the Death of Martin Luther King, Jr. (1968) 186

The Total Vision of A. Philip Randolph (1969) 196

Eldridge Cleaver and the Democratic Idea (1976) 202

A Black Presidential Candidacy? (1983) 207

The Curious Case of Louis Farrakhan (1985) 210

Part 4 Equality Beyond Race

The Myth of Black Studies (1969) 214

The Failure of Black Separatism (1970) 217

Feminism and Equality (1970) 237

The Blacks and the Unions (1971) 239

Black Women and Women's Liberation (1972) 256

Affirmative Action in an Economy of Scarcity (1974) 259

Civil Rights and Uncivil Wrongs (1982) 265

Civil Rights: Twenty Years Later (1983) 267

Part 5 Gay Rights

From Montgomery to Stonewall (1986) 272

The New "Niggers" Are Gays (1986) 275

Brother to Brother: An Interview with Joseph Beam (1986) 277

Black and Gay in the Civil Rights Movement: An Interview with Open Hands (1987) 281

Martin Luther King's Views on Gay People (1987) 292

The Importance of gay Rights Legislation (1987) 295

Time on Two Crosses: An Interview with George Chauncey, Jr. (1987) 299

Part 6 Equality Beyond America

African Revolution (1958) 306

How Black Americans See Black Africans-and Vice Versa (1969) 314

American Negroes and Isreal (1974) 318

A U.S. Coalition on Human Rights (1977) 327

The War Against Zimbabwe (1979) 333

A Way Out: Solutions for South Africa (1983) 350

Afterword Barney Frank 353

Bibliography 354

About the Editors 356