<TitleType>01</TitleType> <TitleText textcase="02">I Must Resist</TitleText> <Subtitle textcase="02">Bayard Rustin's Life in Letters</Subtitle>

City Lights Books transfers@onixsuite.com 20130918 eng

COM.ONIXSUITE.9780872865785 03 01 City Lights Books 01 GCOI 87286100330920 02 0872865789 03 9780872865785 15 9780872865785 BC <TitleType>01</TitleType> <TitleText textcase="02">I Must Resist</TitleText> <Subtitle textcase="02">Bayard Rustin's Life in Letters</Subtitle> 1 A01 Rustin, Bayard Bayard Rustin Bayard Rustin (March 17, 1912 – August 24, 1987) was an American leader in social movements for civil rights, socialism, pacifism and non-violence, and gay rights. In the pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), Rustin practiced nonviolence. He was a leading activist of the early 1947–1955 civil-rights movement, helping to initiate a 1947 Freedom Ride to challenge with civil disobedience racial segregation on interstate busing. He recognized Martin Luther King, Jr.'s leadership, and helped to organize the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to strengthen King's leadership; Rustin promoted the philosophy of nonviolence and the practices of nonviolent resistance, which he had observed while working with Gandhi's movement in India. Rustin became a leading strategist of the civil rights movement from 1955–1968. He was the chief organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which was headed by A. Philip Randolph, the leading African-American labor-union president and socialist. Rustin also influenced young activists, such as Tom Kahn and Stokely Carmichael, in organizations like the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). After the passage of the civil-rights legislation of 1964–1965, Rustin focused attention on the economic problems of working-class and unemployed African Americans, suggesting that the civil-rights movement had left its period of "protest" and had entered an era of "politics", in which the Black community had to ally with the labor movement. Rustin became the head of the AFL–CIO's A. Philip Randolph Institute, which promoted the integration of formerly all-white unions and promoted the unionization of African Americans. Rustin became an honorary chairperson of the Socialist Party of America in 1972, before it changed its name to Social Democrats, USA (SDUSA); Rustin acted as national chairman of SDUSA during the 1970s. During the 1970s and 1980s, Rustin served on many humanitarian missions, such as aiding refugees from Communist Vietnam and Cambodia. He was on a humanitarian mission in Haiti when he died in 1987. Rustin was a gay man who had been arrested for a homosexual act in 1953. Homosexuality was criminalized in parts of the United States until 2003 and stigmatized through the 1990s. Rustin's sexuality, or at least his embarrassingly public criminal charge, was criticized by some fellow pacifists and civil-rights leaders. Rustin was attacked as a "pervert" or "immoral influence" by political opponents from segregationists to Black power militants, and from the 1950s through the 1970s. In addition, his pre-1941 Communist Party affiliation was controversial. To avoid such attacks, Rustin served only rarely as a public spokesperson. He usually acted as an influential adviser to civil-rights leaders. In the 1970s, he became a public advocate on behalf of gay and lesbian causes. In August 2013, President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Rustin the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 2 A01 Bond, Julian Julian Bond Julian Bond authors the Foreword of I Must Resist. Bond is an American social activist and leader in the American civil rights movement, politician, professor, and writer. While a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, during the early 1960s, he helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). He was the first president of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Bond was elected to both houses of the Georgia legislature, where he served a total of 20 years. He was chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1998 to 2010. 3 B01 Long, Michael G Michael G Long Michael G. Long is an associate professor of religious studies and peace and conflict studies at Elizabethtown College and is the author or editor of several books on civil rights, religion, and politics in mid-century America, including Marshalling Justice: The Early Civil Rights Letters of Thurgood Marshall and First Class Citizenship: The Civil Rights Letters of Jackie Robinson. He holds a Ph.D. from Emory University in Atlanta and resides in Highland Park, Pennsylvania. Long's books have been featured or reviewed in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, USA Today, Book Forum, Ebony/Jet, and many other newspapers and journals. He has appeared on C-Span and NPR, and his speaking engagements have taken him from the National Archives in Washington, D.C., to the Houston Public Library, to the City Club of San Diego and the Metropolitan Club in New York City. 01 eng 516 00 516 03 24 Internet CL Hierarchy African American Writing 24 Internet CL Hierarchy Biography/Memoir 24 Internet CL Hierarchy Gay & Lesbian 01 BAYARD RUSTIN POSTHUMOUSLY AWARDED THE 2013 PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM Published on the centennial of his birth, and in anticipation of the 50th anniversary of the historic March on Washington, here is Bayard Rustin's life story told in his own words. Bayard Rustin has been called the "lost prophet" of the civil rights movement. A master strategist and tireless activist, he is best remembered as the organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, one of the largest nonviolent protests ever held in the U.S. He brought Gandhi's protest techniques to the American civil rights movement and played a deeply influential role in the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., helping to mold him into an international symbol of nonviolence. Despite these achievements, Rustin often remained in the background. He was silenced, threatened, arrested, beaten, imprisoned and fired from important leadership positions, largely because he was an openly gay man in a fiercely homophobic era. Here we have Rustin in his own words in a collection of over 150 of his letters; his correspondents include the major progressives of his day — for example, Eleanor Holmes Norton, A. Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins, Ella Baker, and of course, Martin Luther King, Jr. Bayard Rustin's eloquent, impassioned voice, his ability to chart the path "from protest to politics," is both timely and deeply informative. As the Occupy movement ushers America into a pivotal election year, and as politicians and citizens re-assess their goals and strategies, these letters provide direct access to the strategic thinking and tactical planning that led to the successes of one of America's most transformative and historic social movements. [A note from editor Michael Long: I thank Nancy D. Kates and Bennett Singer, co-producers/directors of Brother Outsider, for my use of material in their excellent documentary about Rustin. I am especially grateful to Question Why Films, co-owned by Kates and Singer, for my use of an interview that Kates conducted with Dr. Robert Ascher. -- ML] With a foreword by Julian Bond. Praise for I Must Resist: "A vital addition to the history of the civil rights movement by an exceptionally determined, vital and creative force who was invaluable to Martin Luther King Jr and A. Philip Randolph among many others." -- Nat Hentoff "Rustin was a life-long agitator for justice. He changed America – and the world – for the better. This collection of his letters makes his life and his passions come vividly alive, and helps restore him to history, a century after his birth. I Must Resist makes for inspiring reading." -- John D'Emilio, author of Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin "Bayard Rustin's courageously candid letters, most of which have never before been available to researchers, provide fascinating glimpses into the private life of one of history's most reticent public figures." -- Clayborne Carson, Founding Director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University "These letters – poetic, incisive, passionate, and above all political in the broadest meaning of the word – span almost four decades not only of Bayard Rustin's life but of the emotional and spiritual life of America. There is hardly a social justice movement during this time in which Rustin was not involved from pacifism to ending poverty to battles for sexual freedom. Michael Long's brilliant editing has created a compelling historical narrative and reading these letters is to be witness to the ever-evolving conscience that guides our country's endangered, but surviving, commitment to freedom." -- Michael Bronksi, author of A Queer History of the United States "Bayard Rustin was a committed but very complicated person. This marvelously annotated collection of letters explain the spirit, and evolution of the thoughts and actions of an often overlooked key figure in the 20th century civil and human rights movement." -- Mary Frances Berry, Geraldine Segal Professor of American Social Thought, University of Pennsylvania, and former Chair United States Commission on Civil Rights "I Must Resist: Bayard Rustin's Life in Letters provides fascinating insights into Bayard Rustin's activist life. It includes hundreds of letters in Rustin's own words that reveal his tireless and brave efforts to promote American civil rights, as well as his personal tragedies. All aspects of Rustin's experiences are captured in these letters, including his struggles with opponents dedicated to silencing him as an international symbol of nonviolent protests against racial injustice. This remarkable and deeply moving publication is a must-read." -- William Julius Wilson, Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor, Harvard University 02 BAYARD RUSTIN POSTHUMOUSLY AWARDED THE 2013 PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM Bayard Rustin's life story told in his own words through his intimate correspondence, published on the centennial of his birth. 08 "The letters in this book, which represent only a portion of Rustin's prolific output, provide a detailed, vivid, and often surprising look into his life and mind. They reveal Rustin’s commitment to speaking the truth to power, which he encouraged in correspondence with students, citizens, and politicians, including every president from Truman to Reagan." —Jim Nawrocki The Gay & Lesbian Review 08 "Rustin... was willing to challenge orthodoxies left, right, and center. And therein lay his greatness." —Thomas D. Hamm Friends Journal 08 "This past March, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Bayard Rustin's birth, this collection of letters to and from Rustin written over almost a half-century was released. The second letter in the book is 'Rustin to the FOR Staff,' dated September 12, 1942, when Bayard was a field secretary for the organization, and includes these words, 'In many parts of this country I have found men completely cut off from a knowledge of pacifism. This is an indication that there may well be millions of men who would be eager to follow the truth if they could but hear it. … I therefore have a deep concern when I hear many FOR people across this nation say that they feel they ought to be still at this time. I believe this is the time to say louder and more frequently than before the truth that war is wrong, stupid, wasteful, and impeding future progress and any possibilities of a just and durable peace.' It seems remarkable how applicable these sentiments of 70 years ago seem today in the midst of the Afghanistan war and the use of drones and secretive military forces in other parts of the world." Fellowship Magazine 08 "The book provides insights into . . . important aspects of protest. The letters are an example of a political activist's tireless efforts to promote American civil rights and throw light on the struggles one has to undergo against all opposition, especially when there are ideological differences: Rustin’s strongly held views on non-violence often clashed with other Trotskyite activists who believed that change was possible only through violence. Remarkably moving in their spirit and intention, the letters symbolise dedication to a political and social purpose intended for racial justice and equality."--Shelly Walia, Frontline, India Frontline 08 "Collected from over more than four decades, these letters are a reminder that one man can make a difference. . . . culled with care by editor Long, who also provides scene-setting historical and cultural annotations." -- Richard Labonte, The Rainbow Times The Rainbow Times 08 "This collection of letters sheds light on one of the great overlooked activists of the 20th century. Each letter is prefaced by a paragraph providing context, helpful for those who don't have a deep knowledge of the events of that era. . . . His letters--some 150 are collected here chronologically--reveal an eloquent, persuasive activist, unafraid to challenge so-called authority figures when he encountered injustice." —PGN Staff Philadelphia Gay News 08 "In I Must Resist: Bayard Rustin's Life in Letters, editor Michael G. Long assembles an impressive narrative of Rustin's remarkable achievements, helping on this 100th anniversary of his birth to revive the complex legacy of the civil rights struggle’s hidden man." --Edward Ericson, Jr., City Paper City Paper 08 "In commemoration of the centennial of his birth, a new book, I Must Resist: Bayard Rustin's Life In Letters, (edited by Michael G. Long) has just been published. It is a volume that is rich in Rustin's wisdom and highly relevant to today’s debates over issues from gay rights to affirmative action."--Richard Kahlenberg The Chronicle 08 "Despite the fact that Rustin was pivotal to the civil rights movement, including organizing the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, he is not nearly as well known as others in the movement. This collection of Rustin's letters aims to set straight the record on his enormous influence. The foreword by Julian Bond lays the groundwork with an overview of Rustin’s life and the beginnings of his lifelong resistance to social injustice. The collection of 150 letters, arranged chronologically, reflects Rustin’s resistance to racism in the U.S. and anticolonialism in India and Africa. His politics (socialism) and sexual orientation (homosexual) compelled him to stay in the background of the American civil rights movement. He was an adherent of nonviolence even as he aggressively pushed for change through protests, boycotts, marches, rallies, sit-ins, and other tactics, which sometimes put him at odds with others in the movement. Editor Long precedes each letter with historical context to reflect the state of national and world affairs from 1944 to 1987, reflecting as well Rustin’s own personal life as he writes of music, art, books, and his struggles with his sexual identity. Among his correspondents were Martin Luther King Jr., A. Philip Randolph, Ella Baker, President Eisenhower, the New York Times, and J. Edgar Hoover."— Vanessa Bush Booklist Online 23 01 http://www.citylights.com/resources/titles/87286100330920/extras/IMustResistExcerptCL.pdf 04 03 72 01 http://www.citylights.com/resources/titles/87286100330920/images/87286100330920L.jpg 07 03 72 01 http://www.citylights.com/resources/titles/87286100330920/images/87286100330920S.jpg 01 04 01 http://www.citylights.com/resources/titles/87286100330920/extras/MustResistQ_A.pdf 01 04 01 http://www.citylights.com/resources/titles/87286100330920/extras/MustResitAnCon.pdf http://www.citylights.com/book/?GCOI=87286100330920 City Lights Publishers 01 City Lights Publishers 20120301 08 16 oz City Lights Books 01 WORLD 20 20120301 01 02 19.95 USD