Bayard Rustin

Behind the keynote speeches of Martin Luther King and John Lewis, the March on Washington was an exercise in logistics. Bayard Rustin, who isn’t often remembered as a key member of the movement but who was crucial to its success, managed them. The Center for Civil and Human Rights told Rustin's story--how he organized portable toilets and food for 250,000 people and was an important advisor to the Big Six, but was unable to be one of the faces of the movement because he was gay in the mid 20th century. 

While I had heard Rustin's name before, I hadn't known how important he was to the movement. It reinforced that, as idealistic as the Civil Rights Movement was, it wasn't perfect they had to be pragmatic, just like anyone other movement. 

Leah Smith, The Park School of Baltimore