BAYARD RUSTIN: THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE
Aesthetic experience was the cornerstone of Bayard Rustin’s success as the architect of the Civil Rights Movement. Breaking boundaries and pushing limits, Rustin harnessed the power of “the medium” to structure awareness, create dialogue, and galvanize a nation towards activism and authenticity. By capitalizing on the technology of his time, Rustin created and dispatched messages that continue to activate societal change through dialogue and non-violence.
The Medium Is The Message. Rustin’s facility with the medium of his era became the call of our nation. Whether through print or performance, Bayard Rustin changed the scale and impact of interactions, shaping the character of the message by artful design.Letters, telegrams, phone books, calendars, passports, original handwritten documents, doodles, and mimeographed notices offer an extraordinary record of Rustin’s public and personal life.
The selection showcased here highlights a lifetime dedicated to beauty and authenticity. Photographed in Bayard Rustin’s home between 2018-2023, THEP is ever grateful to the generosity and direction of Rustin’s life partner, Walter Naegle, who provided access to over 450 personal items. His care and stewardship of the archive has been meticulously cataloged with intention and aims to provide deeper understanding of the movement for non-violence then and now. To learn more about the project and archive, please contact Gay Feldman, Executive Director, The Human Experience Project.
All photographs © David Katzenstein
All text © Gay Feldman
As an artist and activist, Rustin capitalized on the technology of his time, creating and dispatching messages that continue to activate societal change.
Aesthetic experience is the cornerstone of progressive education and principal to Bayard Rustin’s success as the architect of the Civil Rights Movement.
Breaking boundaries and pushing limits, Rustin harnessed the power of “the medium” to structure awareness, create dialogue, and galvanize a nation towards activism.
The first amendment guarantees freedom of speech. Speaking truth to power, Rustin pressed the media at every turn.
Working side by side with an international and diverse group of contemporary changemakers and thought leaders, Bayard engineered the extraordinary, creating the criteria for change through dialogue and non-violence.
Rustin’s early involvement with the American Friends Service Committee set the stage for a lifetime of activism in the name of human rights, economic equity, education, and freedom.
Whether through print or performance, Bayard Rustin changed the scale of interactions, shaping the character of the message by artful design.
The medium is the message of the complex identities we carry in private and offer the public. Within Rustin’s private collection of early Christian and Byzantine art and his public facing collection of African art and icons we find a reflection of his conscious identity.
Folk Art and artifacts of his early childhood surrounded by loving grandparents in Westchester, PA. Activists and active members of the Quaker Community, his childhood home was frequented by the great leaders of the movement including W.E.B. Du Bois.
Recognized by Presidents and his fellow man, Rustin was also a man of his times who embraced and championed all people.
Rustin harnessed the power of “the medium” to structure awareness, create dialogue, and galvanize a nation towards activism and authenticity.
The vast collection of African American Folk Art, as well as early Christian, Asian and Byzantine religious icons adds deeper meaning in context, as does his exquisite taste in silver and porcelain.
Rings of kings, beads, bracelets, cufflinks artfully procured and designed by Rustin became the hallmarks of Bayard Rustin’s expression and style. The medium was always the message.