Bayard Rustin, born on this day in 1912, was a gay socialist civil rights leader in the United States.

Rustin worked with A. Philip Randolph on the March on Washington Movement in 1941 to press for an end to racial discrimination in employment. Rustin later organized Freedom Rides and helped to organize the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to strengthen Martin Luther King Jr.'s leadership, teaching King about nonviolence and later serving as an organizer for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

Despite his overtly left-wing political positions, such as supporting universal healthcare and full employment, later in his career Rustin became known for more moderate political takes. In 1966, Rustin stated the slogan "black power" "lacked any real value for the civil rights movement". Rustin also gave repeated and full-throated support for Israel.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Rustin served on many humanitarian missions, such as aiding refugees from Vietnam and Cambodia. At the time of his death in 1987, he was on a humanitarian mission in Haiti.

"When an individual is protesting society's refusal to acknowledge his dignity as a human being, his very act of protest confers dignity on him."

- Bayard Rustin