*Please note: The exact date of publication is unknown.
This catalog and accompanying study chronicle Bayard Rustin’s wide-ranging art collection, amassed over more than four decades. Spanning European, Asian, and African traditions, the collection reflects Rustin’s discerning eye and deep cultural curiosity. Beyond documenting key acquisitions and thematic groupings, the work delves into Rustin’s philosophy of collecting—his aesthetic sensibilities, personal anecdotes, and relationships within the art and antiques community. It reveals how his humanist worldview shaped not only what he collected, but why: each piece serving as a reflection of his values, identity, and commitment to cross-cultural understanding.
Bayard Rustin—renowned for his leadership in the civil rights movement, labor organizing, and global human rights advocacy—was also a passionate and knowledgeable art collector. His collection, built primarily in New York but enriched by broad international travels, includes religious icons, masks, sculptures, paintings, musical instruments, and everyday objects reflecting Rustin’s cosmopolitan vision and Quaker belief in universal human dignity. Rustin’s collecting paralleled his activism, reinforcing cultural appreciation, empathy, and connections across traditions, geographies, and histories. This hidden facet of Rustin’s life challenges mainstream notions of African American collectors and leaves a lasting legacy for scholarship, art, and civil rights memory.
Download the full book as PDF: “Bayard Rustin as Art Collector: A Study of Selections of African, Asian, and European Art.”
Shaw, Thomas M. Bayard Rustin as Art Collector: A Study of Selections of African, Asian, and European Art. Kean University, 1989. https://digitalcommons.kean.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=ua_index.
