As part of the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum’s 2016 Changing America project, the Cazenovia Public Library will show the movie Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin at 7 p.m.Wednesday, May 25 at 100 Albany Street, Cazenovia.
The 2003 documentary, which was a Sundance Festival nominee, combines rare archival footage with provocative interviews to illuminate the life and work of a forgotten prophet of social change. This film event is a collaboration with POV, the award-winning independent nonfiction film series on PBS. (www.pbs.org/pov). The filmmakers are Sam Pollard, Executive Producer, and Nancy D. Kates & Bennett Singer, Producer/Director.
During his 60-year career as an activist, organizer and “troublemaker,” Bayard Rustin formulated many of the strategies that propelled the American civil rights movement. His passionate belief in Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence drew Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders to him in the 1940’s and 50’s; his practice of those beliefs drew the attention of the FBI and police. In 1963, Rustin brought his unique skills to the crowning glory of his civil rights career: his work organizing the March on Washington, the biggest protest America had ever seen. But his open homosexuality forced him to remain in the background, marking him again and again as a “brother outsider.” Brother Outsider: the Life of Bayard Rustin combines rare archival footage — some of it never before broadcast in the U.S. — with provocative interviews to illuminate the life and work of a forgotten prophet of social change. Update: On August 8, 2013, President Barack Obama named Bayard Rustin a posthumous recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom:
“Bayard Rustin was an unyielding activist for civil Rights, dignity, and equality for all. An advisor to the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., he promoted nonviolent resistance, participated in one of the first Freedom Rides, organized the 1963 march on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and fought tirelessly for marginalized communities at home and abroad. As an openly gay African American, Mr. Rustin stood at the intersection of several of the fights for equal rights.” (President Obama 8-8-2013)
At the time of Rustin’s death in 1987, President Ronald Reagan praised the civil rights leader.
Changing America: The Emancipation Proclamation, 1863, and the March on Washington, 1963,examines the events leading up to the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, and the March on Washington in 1963. Both events grew out of decades of bold actions, resistance, organization, and vision. One hundred years separate them, yet they are linked in the larger story of a struggle for liberty which brought together different races, classes and ideologies and had a profound impact on the generations that followed. Changing America is presented by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture and the National Museum of American History in collaboration with the American Library Association Public Programs Office. The traveling exhibition is made possible by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor. NAHOF and partner libraries are offering free programs in connection with the exhibition. NAHOF is one of fifty sites in the country awarded this special exhibit.
The Changing America exhibit opens at the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum (NAHOF) at 5255 Pleasant Valley Road, Peterboro NY 13134 on Saturday, June 4, 2016 at 4:30 pm with a reception at 5:30 followed by a program Emancipation Music: Lyrics and Songs of 1863 and 1963. The exhibitcloses July 14 with weekend hours 1- 5 pm and Mondays – Thursday from 12 – 4 pm. The public is encouraged to take advantage of the opportunity to visit the exhibit and to attend the programs, and to check for updates and further information at www.nationalabolitionhalloffameandmuseum.org,nahofm1835@gmail.com, and 315-280-8828.