LOST PROPHET: The Life & Times of BAYARD RUSTIN – by John D'Emilio - Author Coming
Schedule
Tue Jul 21 2026 at 07:00 pm to 09:00 pm
UTC-05:00Location
Center on Halsted | Chicago, IL
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𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟 𝗠𝗧𝗚: 𝗔𝗨𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗥 𝗝𝗢𝗜𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗨𝗦 to Discuss our Book in July ...--- AZ = 4.7 / GR = 4.2 ---
--- Lamda Lit Awd, Stonewall Bk Awd, Nat'l Bk Awd finalist ---
(It's a bit lengthy, so maybe start reading early &
if you don’t finish, it's ok to come anyway) …
A TRIUMPHANT BIO OF A 𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗢 OF THE 𝗕𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗞 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘𝗗𝗢𝗠 𝗠𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧, WHO 𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗗 𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚, ORGANIZED (SECRETLY) 1963 𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗖𝗛 𝗢𝗡 𝗪𝗔𝗦𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗧𝗢𝗡, BUT ALSO A SINGULARLY IMPORTANT FIGURE 𝗟𝗢𝗦𝗧 𝗜𝗡 𝗚𝗔𝗬 𝗛𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗬, WHO, STEADFASTLY OPENLY GAY, STRUGGLED WITH 𝗛𝗢𝗠𝗢𝗣𝗛𝗢𝗕𝗜𝗖 𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗖𝗥𝗜𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 & BEING 𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗚𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗭𝗘𝗗.
- - - - - Kirkus Reviews - - - - -
"𝘈 𝙨𝙮𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙘, 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘣𝘪𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙭𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙧𝙤𝙡𝙚 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘭 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘈𝘯 𝙚𝙮𝙚-𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙩."
SUMMARY: 𝗕𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 Martin Luther King & Malcolm X, Bayard Rustin was working to 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗹 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗻𝘁 of America's consciousness. A 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗿 to King about nonviolent protests, an international 𝗮𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗹𝗲 of peace & the 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗿 of the historic 1963 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝗻 𝗪𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗼𝗻, he brought Gandhi's philosophy of 𝗻𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 to America & helped launch the civil rights movement. Nonetheless, Rustin has been largely 𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗵𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆, in part because he was a 𝗴𝗮𝘆 𝗯𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗺𝗮𝗻.
This tells the full & remarkable story of Rustin's 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘁𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱 lives: his 𝗽𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 & 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰 public persona & his 𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲 & 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗲 self. It was in the tumultuous 1930s that Bayard Rustin came of age, getting his first lessons in politics through the 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘆 & the unrest of the Great Depression. A 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿 & a 𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝘀𝘁, he went to 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗻 for refusing to serve in WWII, only to suffer a 𝘀𝗲𝘅𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗹.
Freed from prison after the war, Rustin threw himself into the early campaigns of the civil rights & anti-nuclear movements until an 𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗼𝗺𝘆 nearly destroyed his career. Many close colleagues & friends 𝗮𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝗺. For years, Rustin assumed a less public role even though his 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲, including teaching a young & inexperienced 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻 𝗟𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗴 in the effective use of nonviolence.
Not until Rustin's crowning achievement as the organizer of the 𝟭𝟵𝟲𝟯 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝗻 𝗪𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗼𝗻 would he temporarily yet only partially 𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗲 from the shadows that 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗼𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗮 cast over his career. Rustin remained until his death in 1987 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗱 to the causes of world peace, racial equality & economic justice. Rustin emerges here as a 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗼 of the 𝗯𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗼𝗺 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗹𝗲 & a singularly important figure in the 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗴𝗮𝘆 𝗵𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 of mid-1900s. This compelling narrative 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗰𝘂𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗳𝗶𝗴𝘂𝗿𝗲.
- - - - - Commentary Magazine - - - - -
"𝘈𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝙈𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙜𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝘼𝙇, 𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝙗𝙤𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙆𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘺𝘤𝘰𝘵𝘵’𝘴 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙖 𝙗𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙣 & 𝘢 𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘙𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯 𝙩𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙢 & 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘺𝘤𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 [𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰] 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴; 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘩𝘦 '𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙚𝙙 𝙆𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘯𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 20𝘵𝘩 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘺.'”
[It's a bit lengthy, start reading early, & if you don't finish, come anyway]
[free, no RSVP needed, just come & we'll welcome you in!]
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