In this BRCSJ Power Hour segment, Dr. Keisha N. Blain discusses the often tense but productive relationship between Bayard Rustin and Fannie Lou Hamer, highlighting their shared goals but sharply different tactics—Rustin’s cautious “long game” strategy versus Hamer’s direct, uncompromising agitation.
The Staff and the Sankofa: Kwame Mbalia on Ancestral Power
BRCSJ Power Hour: Virtual Pride 2021 Celebration
This 2021 BRCSJ Power Hour celebrates the center's second annual Virtual Pride with a blend of celebrity appearances, musical performances, community storytelling, and LGBTQIA+ advocacy. Featuring messages from national leaders, artists, and local organizers, the broadcast highlights the ongoing fight for equality while showcasing the Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice's commitment to building community, celebrating Pride, and sustaining activism during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Respectability and Erasure in the Civil Rights Memory
In this BRCSJ Power Hour conversation, historian Mia Bay explains how civil rights leaders were intentionally framed for public acceptance, contrasting the sanitized image of Rosa Parks with the more radical, openly gay, and often marginalized reality of Bayard Rustin. She argues that while this strategy helped movements advance, it also erased the movement’s more disruptive roots—leaving us with a false sense of progress that ignores the vital role of loud, queer, and uncompromising activism.
The Power of One: Mandy Carter on Living the Rustin Legacy
In this oral history interview, Mandy Carter reflects on her decades of activism and the profound influence of Bayard Rustin on her commitment to nonviolent organizing. She connects Rustin’s legacy—from the Journey of Reconciliation to the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom—to today’s movements for intersectional justice and Black queer leadership.
