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Rustin pictured here with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Monroe Frederick / Courtesy of the estate of Bayard Rustin) Less well-known than his contemporary Martin Luther King Jr., Bayard Rustin was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s & 60s. 

Rustin, an openly gay black man best known for his beliefs in peaceful protest, was a key adviser and strategist to King, espousing the tactics of non-violent protest of Mahatma Ghandi and the pacifism of the American Quakers. He believed in fighting for rights through civil disobedience and taught these methods to Dr. King.

Part of his personal philosophy was also the brand of socialism practiced by African American labor leader A. Philip Randolph, who was best known for fighting for equal labor rights in Black American communities. Randolph eventually formed the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first Black labor Union in the United States. His work later went on to end (legal & formal ) segregation of the armed forces.

A close disciple of Randolph, Rustin co-founded an African American trade union workers organization called the A. Philip Randolph Institute in 1965.Apart from being a key player in the Civil Rights movement, he (along with Mr. Randolph) was one of the key organizers of the 1963 March On Washington, that set the stage for MLK’s famous “I Have A Dream” speech. 

Throughout his career Rustin remained mostly behind the scenes as an influencer (can you imagine what his Instagram account could do right now?!?!) and organizer due to the criticism he faced by being an openly gay man.He organized the New York City school boycott of 1964 and in 1972 became the national co-chairman of the Socialist Party of America, which voted to change their name to the Social Democrats, USA later that same year (so it’s been a thing for awhile!).

Anti-communist and generally pro-peaceful resolution, Rustin opposed US intervention in the Vietnam War as well as Soviet and Cuban involvement in the Angolan Civil War, noting a particular imperial interest of white forces in Africa.Though his later career consisted of many speaking engagements, and a more public political life, Rustin did not have a huge role in the Gay Rights Movement of the 1980s, though he did testify in 1986 on behalf of New York State's Gay Rights Bill. 

Asked to add to the book In the Life: A Black Gay Anthology, Rustin decided not  to contributed, responding with the following: “I was not involved in the struggle for gay rights as a youth... I did not "come out of the closet" voluntarily—circumstances forced me out. While I have no problem with being publicly identified as homosexual, it would be dishonest of me to present myself as one who was in the forefront of the struggle for gay rights... I fundamentally consider sexual orientation to be a private matter. As such, it has not been a factor which has greatly influenced my role as an activist.” Reflection: 

I had never heard of Mr. Rustin - though I sure am glad I did. I found him difficult to research and write about - perhaps because of life stuff going on right now, of which there is a lot! 

I think, though, I have found it difficult mostly because his life - while sprinkled with arrests for civil disobedience and homosexuality - was one of support and activism rather than one of tragedy and violence. 

His legacy is of hope and of persistence and of doing the next right thing, on a public and personal level.I think that in this country it is easier for us to be interested in a story that is extreme. 

And I think that is especially true of white people’s interest in Black stories.

Something for me to ponder on further… Sources Used: https://www.biography.com/activist/bayard-rustin, https://www.biography.com/activist/a-philip-randolph, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayard_Rustin

I can admit that I had never heard of the Tulsa Race Massacre until people were getting upset about Trump holding his rally in Tulsa on the anniversary of the devastating event.  I don’t believe it was ever covered in my American History classes in both public and private schools.

If it was, it was glossed over very quickly, so quickly that the name didn’t even ring a bell.

In fact, in 2012 (91 years after the Massacre took place), a bill failed to pass the Oklahoma Senate that would have required that the Tulsa Race Massacre be taught in all Oklahoma high schools. The opposition claimed that their lack of support came from the fact that it had been included in curricula and history text books beginning in 2000. (insert head slap emoji here) The Tulsa Race Massacre: History leading up to the event

Well there was quite a bit going on that contributed to the 18 hours of racially-fueled destruction.

WWI - The Great War had just ended a mere 2.5 years prior in late 1918.  Still a very segregated military structure, Black Americans valiantly joined the ranks to serve their country as they had done for generations.

Overseas travel became more accessible and the middle-class Americans started visiting to the cities they had seen to during the war and the grave sites of loved ones, exposing themselves to new fashions, lifestyles and possibilities.

The expansion of American presence in Europe during WWI also lead to the US leading what we now know as a “World Economy” - the US led this front, becoming one of the top countries in industry, trade and economy. White women and African Americans were now filling jobs that previously had been reserved for white men as well.

African American Affluence

During WWI there began a huge influx of African Americans moving from the South to the North. Known as the “Great Migration” many African Americans began moving to work in factories that  needed workers due to the war.  Moving North meant less oppression and higher wages.  

The growing cultural and social “not a care in the world” that came with economic affluence and the desire by many Americans to put the horrors of the war behind them, led to the roaring 20s — and Black people were very much included in this.

Black Americans were finding spaces to create neighborhoods with successful business and cultural centers. One of the best known examples of this is the Harlem of the late 1910s and 1920s, a period in Harlem famously known as the Harlem Renaissance when Black intellectuals, professionals and artists flocked to the neighborhood and created some of the most influential American ideas of all time.  

Growing Racism This quote from Time Magazine says it all: “With the armistice, African Americans fully expected that their service and sacrifice would be recognized. They had labored and shed blood for democracy abroad and now expected full democracy at home.”

But what they received at home was an ever-growing racism. My guess is that is was largely fueled by the fact that African Americans were gaining a foothold in society on a cultural and economic level. By 1921, the Ku Klux Klan had been re-formed.

What Happened? - The facts:

The Tulsa Race Massacre was a horrendous series of events that spanned 18 hours, from May 31st to June 1st of 1921.

It seems it all started with a Karen - well she was the spark, as tensions had between the Black and White communities had been on the rise.

Tulsa, OK was home to 100,000 people at the time, 10% of whom were African American. Most of the Black residents lived in the segregated neighborhood of Greenwood, which at its center had a booming and bustling business district known as Black Wall Street.

On May 30th, 1921 a teenage boy named Dick Rowland walked into the Drexel Building on S. Main St in Tulsa.  He went into an elevator run by a young white woman named Sarah Page.  Sometime after he entered, Page sent out a scream that sent rumors flying around the white community almost immediately. Rowland fled the building and the police arrested him the next morning.

By that day, May 31st, newspapers in the white community had already published allegations that the Black teenager had sexually assaulted the young white woman. And that evening, sh*t started to get real.

A large group of white people decended on the court house, demanding that Rowland be released into their custody. Determined to keep the teenager safe, the Sheriff refused their request and sent his men to barricade the entire floor where Rowland was being housed.

Soon 25 armed Black men (many veterans of WWI) met them at the courthouse as well, offering to help protect the young man. They were also denied by the Sheriff.

Around 10pm, with rumors circulating in Greenwood about a possible lynching, 75 armed Black men arrived at the same courthouse. They found themselves outnumbered 20 to 1 —- 1,500 white men were waiting there as well. After some shots were exchanged at the courthouse, the group of Black protectors retreated to Greenwood, where all hell was about to break lose.

The white rioters focused their initial attentions on Black Wall Street.

Hysteria grew in the white community as false claims of a planned and grand-scale rebellion of Black Tulsans, that would include support from neighboring towns and communities. Some of the white rioters were even deputized and given weapons by the government.

35 city blocks were terrorized by thousands of white rioters who defended on the Greenwood district and committed violent acts on Black citizens and destroyed their property.

Officially, 36 people died (26 Black and 10 white) though the count is thought to actually be upwards of 300.

A later report by the Red Cross estimated that 1,256 houses were torched at that 215 were looted but remained un-burned.

So many Black-owned businesses were destroyed. According to history.com “Two newspapers, a school, a library, a hospital, churches, hotels, stores and many other Black-owned businesses were among the buildings destroyed or damaged by fire.”

Firemen who responded to fires were reported to have been forced to leave by white rioters.

Martial law was ordered by the governor later that morning and while the National Guardsmen helped put out the fires, they imprisoned Black Tulsans as well. There were 6,000 imprisoned at local fairgrounds by June 2nd - that was 60% of Tulsa’s African American population at the time.

Hours after the riots ended, the charges against Rowland were dropped. It was determined that he had most likely bumped into Page or stepped on her foot.  Literally. That happened. 8,000 people were left instantly homeless due to a racially driven assumption. And a Karen who clearly didn't correct them. Cover-Up

According to history.com, the Massacre was deliberately covered up for decades..

“The Tulsa Tribune removed the front-page story of May 31 that sparked the chaos from its bound volumes, and scholars later discovered that police and state militia archives about the riot were missing as well. As a result, until recently the Tulsa Race Massacre was rarely mentioned in history books, taught in schools or even talked about.

Scholars began to delve deeper into the story of the riot in the 1970s, after its 50th anniversary had passed. In 1996, on the riot’s 75th anniversary, a service was held at the Mount Zion Baptist Church, which rioters had burned to the ground, and a memorial was placed in front of Greenwood Cultural Center.”

With all of this denial, fueled i’m sure by immense shame and deep racism, it makes sense that in 2012 the OK State Senate wasn’t yet ready to make the Massacre a required topic of study in Oklahoma High Schools.

How devastating. How irresponsible. How heart-breaking.

But that is for another time. I want to focus today on the date celebrated as Juneteenth.

Signed in September of 1862 and enacted January 1st of 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation declared that under federal law, all enslaved persons in the confederate states were now considered free. This did NOT apply to Union loyalist states bordering the confederacy that still practiced slavery - so many other states also practiced slavery beyond the signing of the Proclamation.

Now, the Civil War was NOT over. As we know it lasted until Robert E. Lee surrendered his confederate troops at Virginia on April 9, 1865.

So why did (former) slaves in Texas only find out on June 19, 1865 that they were “free”? The most accepted theory is that due to very small representation of Union soldiers in Texas in 1862-1863, they simply did not have the power to make this information known.  So Black Men, Women and Children stayed enslaved for 2 and half more years until the surrender of the confederacy to the Union in 1865.

It did take another 2 months and 10 days until Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger would make this announcement at the Union District Headquarters of Texas, at Galveston June 19, 1865:

“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.” - Union General Orders, Number 3

They were “freed” in Texas but many enslaved peoples were forced to continue to work for their (former) masters, forced to work by ex-confederate local officials and many were killed just for being Black.

So, what is Juneteenth? Juneteenth is the celebration of the Emancipation of Slavery, as per the date when Gen.Granger announced the news in Texas.  Occurring each year on the 19th of June, it has been celebrated since 1866, the first year anniversary of the announcement. Traditionally celebrated with food and music, this is not a new holiday, but a very old and very meaningful tradition.

Why are so many white people only hearing about it now?

History textbooks have long emphasized Lincoln’s “greatness” in ending slavery on January 1st, 1863 and the horrible lives of enslaved peoples, often completely omitting Granger’s announcement of General Order No. 3 and its significance.

The Great Depression also made extravagant festivities less possible and employers less eager to give employees time off to celebrate Juneteenth. 

The Civil Rights movement of the 1960s gave way to a revival in the celebration and honoring of this historically important holiday as well as the State of Texas’s declaration of Juneteenth as an official state holiday in 1980.

We are clearly in the midst of Second Civil Rights movement which is bringing more appreciation and celebration of this holiday.

Let’s celebrate Juneteenth every year! If you are white, like me, please consider honoring this important holiday in solidarity with the Black community. I know I plan to.  

Please feel free to share this series with your friends. They can join our mailing list at this link: http://eepurl.com/gfvEfL

Resources used for this essay: https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/emancipation-proclamation https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/what-is-juneteenth/

https://www.juneteenth.com/history.htm