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Home My WebLink AboutS04-Council Office " a II-r I '\ \".,,..... j A. PHILIP RANDOLPH INSTITUTE OF THE INLAND EMPIRE CHAPTER San Bernardino City Council City Hall San Bernardino, California RE: BAYARD RUSTIN MEMORIAL Dear Council Members: ,.;: . On October l6, 19B7 at noon, the A. Philip Randolph Institute will hold a memorial ceremony for Bayard Rustin. We invite you to attend and we ask that you adopt a resolution in support of our event. Enclosed is a biographical sketch of our recently deceased champion of civil rights which will justify our effort to honor his memory. If you elect to support us, a resolution such as the following would be appreciated. "RESOLVED - The San Bernardino City Council supports the tribute to the memory of Bayard Rustin to be given by the A. Philip Randolph Institute on October 16, 1987 and jOins with their members in mourning the passing of the great civil rights leader." Thank you in advance for reading this letter at your October 5th meeting, I am Gratefully yours, ~i~- AC/jg PHONE (714) 884-3235 . 1651 NORTH MT, VERNON . SAN BERNARDINO, CA 92411 -G<-MIl .:5"- 'I ~ . 1"-.-'" \..., ,.-.. '-' ..... BAYARD RUSTIN """ ...I Bayard Rustin has been active in the struggle for human rights and economic justice for over 50 years. Born in 1912, he was reared in West Chester, Pennsylvania where he was an outstanding student, athlete, and musician. He attended Wilberforce University, Cheyney State College, and the City College of New York, earning tuition at odd jobs and singing semi-professionally, A gifted tenor, he sang with Josh ~hite's Carolinians, and also with Leadbelly at New York's Cafe Society. A Quaker, V~. Rustin placed his religious convictions above his musical interests, and in 1941 began a long association wi th the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR). Serving as its Race Rela t.a.ons Secretary, he toured the country n.egle conducting Race Relations Institutes designed to facilitate communication and understanding between racial groups. He was active in A. Philip Randolph's March on ~iashington ~1ovement, 2nd became the first field secretary of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), In 191~2 he was dIspatched to California by the FOR and the Arnerica.'1 Friends Service CO\11'ni ttee to fJelp protect the property of Japanese-Americans held in detention. In 1943, )I~. Rustin was imprisoned in Lewisburg Penitentiary as a conscientious objector. In 1947, Bayard Rustin took part in a demonstration to test enforcement of the 1946 Irene Horgan case decision outlawing discrimination in interstate travel. Known as the "Journey of Reconciliation" this protest was a model for the Freedom Rides of the 1960s. Arrested in North Carolina, he served 30 days on a chain gang. His account of that experience, serialized in The NeH York Post, spurred an investigation which resulted in the abolition of chain gangs in North Carolina. V~, Rustin directed A. Philip Randolph's Committee Against Discrimination in the Armed Forces which. was ins trumental in securing President Trurnan' s order eliminating segregation in the armed forces. At Mr. Randolph's request he Has granted temporary leave. from his position as Executive Secretary of the War Resisters League, to assist Dr. Hartin Luther King, Jr. in the early days of the Montgomery Alabama Bus Boycott. His extensive background in the theory, strategies, and tactics of nonviolent action proved invaluable and were the foundation of his close association with Dr. King. Mr. Rustin organized the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom in 1957, The National Youth Harches for Integrated Schools in 1958 and 1959, and was the Deputy Director and chief organizer of the 1963 Varch on Washington for Jobs and Freedom which, at that time, was the largest demonstration in the nation's history. Thought by many to be the high ~". point of the Civil Rights movement, the March on Washington created the political climate for the passage of the major civil rights legislation of the 1960s. In 1964 Bayard Rustin helped found the A. Philip Randolph Institute,' named for his mentor,".the noted labor and civils rights activist. The Institute has over 180 local affiliates involved in voter registration drives and programs designed to strengthen relations between the black community and the labor movement. A long-time supporter of workers's rights, Mr. Rustin has participated in many strikes and was arrested in 1984 while demonstrating in support of the clerical and technical employees of Yale University. During the mid-1960s he'participated in the formation of the Recruitment 5-1 ~ r "" "'., . ' ..... ..) / and Training Program (R-T-P) which successfully upgraded and increased minority participation in construction trades. , While working to promote democracy at home, Bayard Rustin has also supported human ri~lts struggles worldwide. In 1945 he organized ~he FOR's Free India Com~ttee which championed India's fight for independence from Great Britain. Following the examples of Gandhi and Nehru, with whom he consulted during visits to India, he was frequently arrested for protesting Britain's colonial role there. In the early 1950s, he was active in the fight to end colonial rule in Africa. He consulted with Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana and Nnamde Azikewe of Nigeria. At home he helped organize the Committee to Support South African Resistance, later renamed the American Committe on Africa. Mr. Rustin has a long involvement with refugee affairs. As a Vice Chairman of the International Rescue Comrni ttee, he has travelled the world, working to secure food, medical care, education, and proper resettlement for refugees. His several visits to Southeast Asia helped to bring the plight of the Vietnamese "boat people" to the attention of the American public. In 1980 he was part of an Pmerican delegation which took part in the intel'.national "Harch for Survival" on the Thai-Cambodian border. He was Co-Chairman of the Citizens Commission on Indochinese Refugees, a non-goverr~Jenta~-- advocacy group working to assist the refugees fleeing Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. In 1982, he helped organize the National ~mergency Coalition for Haitian Refugees. As Chairman of the Executive COTI1'TIittee of international freedom and h~~~n rights, Zimbabwe, El Salvador, and Grenada, etc. Freedom House, an agency which monitors V~. Rustin has observed elections in In 1975, t1r. Rustin organized the Black Americans to Support Israel Committee (BASIC). He has made numerous fact-finding visits to the ~1iddle East and has written many columns and articles on that troubled area. He has worked for the freedom of Soviet Jews and was an early advocate for the Ethiopian Jews in their struggle to emigrate to Israel. In 1983, Mr. Rustin and two colleagues made a fact-finding trip to South Africa. Their report, South Africa: Is Peaceful Change Possible? led to the formation of Project South Africa, a new program which seeks to broaden A.merican' s support of groups within South Africa which. are attempting to bring about democracy through peaceful means. A collection of 11r. Rustin's essays, Down the Line, was published in 1971, he delivered the Radner Lecture at Columbia University which was published title Strategies for Freedom: The Changing Patterns of Black Protest. In 1976, under the Mr. ~stin is the recipient of numerous awards including The Murray/Greene/Meany award, . The John LaFarge Memorial Award, and The Stephen Wise Award. He has been honored with more than a dozen honorary degrees including Harvard, Yale, Brown, and New York University. He currently serves as a member of the United States Holocaust Memoria,l" Council.