*Please note: The exact date of this photograph is unknown.
This photograph captures Bayard Rustin alongside Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first Prime Minister, during Rustin’s engagement with emerging African nations.
In the early 1950s, as African countries began to gain independence from colonial rule, Rustin emerged as a key figure linking the aspirations of newly sovereign African nations with the African American fight against segregation and racial oppression. His interactions with leaders like Nkrumah underscored the shared goals of the Pan-Africanism and decolonization, illustrating how the civil rights movement was part of a broader global movement against racial and colonial domination. Rustin's international activism not only expanded the scope of his advocacy beyond US borders but also helped position the African American struggle within global context of human rights and self-determination.
Advocate.com Editors. 2023. “Bayard Rustin’s Life and Civil Rights Legacy in Photos.” Advocate.Com, November 17, 2023. https://www.advocate.com/slideshow/2019/1/21/bayard-rustins-life-and-civil-rights-legacy-photos#rebelltitem3.
