2nd Arts & Humanities Conference, Florence

AFRICAN AMERICAN POLITICAL THINKER-ACTIVIST BAYARD RUSTIN’S TACIT QUAKERISM AND THE 1960'S CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

CARLOS FIGUEROA

Abstract:

This paper explores how African American political thinker-activist Bayard Rustin’s tacit Quaker sensibilities, and values – peace, equality, integrity, simplicity, and community – infused both his political thought and civic activism during the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. I examine Rustin’s tacit Quakerism and how it framed much of his political discourses and strategic decisions when dealing with the social injustices, and economic inequalities facing working & poor people of his time, including blacks and other marginalized groups, during the 1960s. I focus on two particular instances in U.S. political life that were critical to not only understanding the civil rights movement but also Rustin’s own unique approach and contribution to political & policy reform debates: 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and the 1966 - 1968 Freedom Budget for All Americans. I show how Rustin’s mostly tacit Quakerism afforded him a theological-analytical means to strategically and consistently move from a non-violent protest to coalition building politics challenging critics who depicted him as a socialist, anarchist (Wiley 2014), communist, pervert, “sellout,” complicit “with those in power” (Mattson 2002), a tool for the “the racist liberal white labor movement,” “race traitor”, and “simply not radical enough” (D’ Emilio 2003), among other ways. Understanding the ways in which Rustin’s tacit Quakerism shaped his radical yet gradual political approach to policy reform provides scholars and policymakers an opportunity to reconsider how religion, race and policy discourse are intimately related in ways that guide political strategic thinking on structural & policy reforms dealing with racial, social and economic inequalities in the U.S and around the world.

Keywords: Bayard Rustin, tacit Quakerism, civil rights movement, Freedom Budget, civic activism, community, strategic thinking, religion, race and policy development

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