Bayard Rustin: American Dreamer

(Rowman & Littlefield Publishers) In this biography, the author examines activist Bayard Rustin, a World War II draft resistor, homosexual, and ex-communist who contributed to the civil rights, socialist, labor, peace, and gay rights movements in the United States. Podair includes excerpts from Rustin’s writings, a transcript of his first meeting with Malcolm X, and the text of speeches by civil rights leaders whom Rustin influenced. Jerald Podair is an associate professor of history at Lawrence University.