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You’re invited to a free community screening and panel discussion of this powerful documentary illuminating the life and work of Bayard Rustin—the visionary activist who has been called “the unknown hero” of the Civil Rights Movement. An openly gay African American, he served as the designer of the historic 1963 March on Washington.
Village Voice commended the film for “vividly bring[ing] back to life a man who deeply and brilliantly influenced the course of the civil rights and peace movements.”
Watch the film free on Sunday, October 18th from 4-6 pm [click here to register]
– via brooklinepl.Kanopy.com for Brookline residents with a Brookline Public Library card
– via Facing History: Make an account; search “Bayard Rustin”; click “video”
Once you’ve viewed the film, join the panel discussion on the struggles, triumphs, and legacy of Bayard Rustin with the director Nancy Kates and Boston Globe opinion columnist Renée Graham the following evening Monday, October 19th at 7 pm. [click here to register]
Click here to view the full poster.
The award-winning documentary Brother Outsider chronicles the public and private lives of Bayard Rustin, the visionary activist, and strategist often called “the invisible man” of the civil rights movement. A tireless crusader for social justice, a disciple of Gandhi, atomic weapons protestor, mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr., and the major organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Rustin dared to live as an openly gay man during the fiercely homophobic 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. The film reveals the price Rustin paid for his honesty, charting both the triumphs and setbacks of his remarkable 60-year career. Click here to learn more.
Check out this list of additional resources about Bayard Rustin.
Nancy Kates co-produced and directed Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin, which premiered in 2003 at the Sundance Film Festival and on PBS’s POV series. The film has won numerous honors, including a 2004 GLAAD Media Award, and audience awards at major film festivals. A 1984 honors graduate of Harvard University, Kates worked for several years at Harvard’s Kennedy School writing public policy case studies, before studying film at Stanford University. Her films include Their Own Vietnam, which won the 1995 Student Academy Award in documentary, and the award-winning HBO film Regarding Susan Sontag, which has screened in over 35 countries. In 2014, Kates was named to the OUT 100, the magazine’s annual list of influential LGBTQ Americans.
Renée Graham is an award-winning opinion columnist and associate editor for the Boston Globe. She writes on a variety of subjects including white supremacy and systemic racism, domestic violence, LGBTQ issues, police misconduct, gun control, and politics. She is also a regular contributor on WBUR-FM’s “Radio Boston” and GBH-TV’s “Basic Black.” To read her recent columns and articles, click here.
Presented by the Town of Brookline MLK Day Celebration Committee and Brookline Interactive Group (BIG). The panel will be moderated by MLK committee member Jack Curtis.
