Historian Daniel Perlstein examines Bayard Rustin’s controversial role in the 1968 New York City school crisis, when Rustin sided with the United Federation of Teachers against Black activists calling for community control in Ocean Hill–Brownsville. Arguing that integration and labor–civil rights coalitions were essential to lasting political power, Rustin maintained that separatist approaches would weaken the broader struggle for economic and racial justice.
Rustin’s Case Against a Race-Specific Campaign
In this 1983 column, Bayard Rustin warns that a Black-led symbolic presidential run risks political isolation by framing national crises like poverty and unemployment as race-specific issues rather than grounds for broad coalition-building. He argues that real power lies not in symbolic candidacies but in multiracial alliances that preserve leverage within the Democratic Party and prevent the splintering of the Black vote.
The Arbiter of Circumstance: Defending the Democratic Process
In this 1978 New York Times op-ed, Bayard Rustin reflects on the civil rights movement’s shift from street protest to electoral politics, arguing that true economic justice depends on disciplined engagement with democracy. He cautions against abandoning the ballot for disruption, warning that when democracy erodes, marginalized communities are the first to pay the price.
The Professionalization of the Movement: Lessons from 1972
The Power of Absence: The 1964 New York City School Boycott
Bayard Rustin helped lead a massive, peaceful school boycott in New York City, as more than 464,000 students stayed home to protest racial imbalance and unequal conditions in Black and Puerto Rican schools. Marked by orderly picketing, a major march in Brooklyn, and the creation of “Freedom Schools,” the action demonstrated the disciplined power of coalition politics to demand integrated, quality education.
