Born on March 17, 1912, in West Chester, Pennsylvania, Bayard Rustin was raised by his maternal grandparents. His grandmother, Julia Rustin, was a key figure in his life and helped shape his early values and sense of justice. In 1932, he left West Chester to attend Wilberforce University in Ohio, a historically Black college.

In the summer of 1941, Rustin worked alongside A. Philip Randolph, founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the most influential Black labor union in the country, to organize a mass march on Washington. The goal was to pressure President Franklin D. Roosevelt into desegregating the armed forces. While Roosevelt did not desegregate the military, he did issue an executive order banning discrimination in defense industries—a partial but significant victory. Although Randolph and many in the Black community saw this as a step forward, Rustin was dissatisfied and gravitated further toward pacifist and nonviolent strategies. He joined the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), led by A.J. Muste, and helped promote a form of nonviolent direct action influenced by Mahatma Gandhi. Unlike other pacifist movements of the time, FOR encouraged confronting injustice directly, without retaliation, to reveal and challenge systems of oppression. Rustin helped FOR apply its strategy in Southern communities; FOR had previously only worked in Northern states.

By the early 1940s, Rustin was writing and speaking widely on racial injustice, penning powerful essays such as Nonviolence vs. Jim Crow (1942) and Letter to the Draft Board (1943). By the late 1940s, he was internationally recognized as a political strategist and committed advocate for racial justice.

In 1953, Rustin was arrested in Pasadena, California, for engaging in consensual sexual activity with men, a charge rooted in discriminatory laws that criminalized same-sex relationships. He served 60 days in jail. When the incident became public, Rustin faced professional consequences, including being asked to resign from FOR. At the time, many civil rights leaders distanced themselves from Rustin, fearing his sexuality would be used to undermine the movement. Nevertheless, he remained deeply committed to social justice.

Rustin's strategic brilliance became indispensable to the movement. In 1956, he was invited by Randolph to assist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Despite objections from some leaders within the NAACP, King chose to work with Rustin, valuing his experience and perspective. The boycotts inspired a series of essays that Rustin wrote during the mid 1950s: "Montgomery Diary", "Fear in the Delta", and "New South...Old Politics." Rustin helped King deepen his understanding of Gandhian principles, particularly the concept of Satyagraha—nonviolence as a way of life. Rustin’s influence helped shape King’s philosophy and the direction of the movement.

Following the success of the Montgomery boycott, Rustin played a key role in the founding of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957, helping to articulate its mission and goals. However, in 1960, political pressure and homophobic smear campaigns forced Rustin to resign from the SCLC, despite his vital contributions. One threat involved spreading a false rumor of a sexual relationship between Rustin and King if an upcoming protest was not canceled. King reluctantly accepted Rustin’s resignation, though the two continued to collaborate privately.

As the movement evolved, Rustin came to believe that economic justice was central to achieving racial equality. He became the chief organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, one of the largest public demonstrations in U.S. history. Although his leadership was largely kept out of the spotlight to minimize political backlash, Rustin was the architect of the event in which King delivered his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech. Rustin ensured that the march emphasized both civil rights and economic opportunity. Groups in attendance included the FOR, SCLC, NAACP, and many others. Though Rustin orchestrated the entire event, he was officially named only Deputy March Director in order to keep a low profile. The March on Washington proved to be an enormous success, becoming the largest public protest in American history. The influence of this event is evident in Rustin's writing at the time. Both Preamble to the March on Washington and From Protest to Politics: The Future of the Civil Rights Movement, published in 1963 and 1964 respectively, made the case for moving from protests and boycotts to lobbying for civil rights legislation and job programs.

Despite receiving offers from both the NAACP and the SCLC to take on prominent leadership roles, Rustin instead accepted the position of executive director of the A. Philip Randolph Institute in 1965, where he focused on labor rights and economic justice. He remained a vocal advocate for full employment, writing widely on issues of race, class, and labor. His major works during this period included The Blacks and the Unions (1971), Affirmative Action in an Economy of Scarcity (1974), and Strategies for Freedom (1976).

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Rustin expanded his work to international human rights, advocating for democracy and free elections in countries such as Zimbabwe, El Salvador, and Haiti. In 1979, he wrote The War Against Zimbabwe, addressing electoral manipulation and the need for international accountability.

In his later years, Rustin became an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. In essays like The New "Niggers" Are Gays (1986) and The Importance of Gay Rights Legislation (1987), he publicly reflected on the intersection of race, sexuality, and civil rights. He argued that silence about one’s identity perpetuates injustice, and he called on the gay community to continue the fight for dignity and equality. “Remaining in the closet is the other side of prejudice against gays,” he wrote. “Because until you challenge it, you are not playing an active role in fighting it.”

Rustin spent his final years advocating for people with AIDS, continuing his work with the Randolph Institute, and advancing global human rights. He passed away on August 27, 1987, from cardiac arrest shortly after returning from a humanitarian trip to Haiti. He was 75.

Throughout his life, Bayard Rustin was responsible for many Black civil rights breakthroughs. His ideas on nonviolent direct action, which influenced King, helped pave the way for a new form of social protest that changed America. While debates over his public memory have occasionally surfaced, such as local controversies about naming schools after him, Rustin is increasingly being recognized as a courageous, principled leader who challenged injustice at every turn. His life and work stand as a bridge between movements for racial justice, LGBTQ+ rights, economic equity, and global human rights.