Thursday, February 2, at 11 am on the Wilberforce University Facebook page
(Wilberforce, Ohio) In the early 1930s, the quiet, conservative, campus community of Wilberforce University had not prepared for the “Force” that moved in the persona of Bayard Rustin. Rustin was a freshman in 1932, an era that did not accept a young Black man who was openly gay.
At Wilberforce, Rustin’s organizing skills were readily recognized, but he was expelled for leading a campus wide protest against the poor quality of the cafeteria food.
That initial social movement at Wilberforce was the spark that led to future decades of Rustin leading the charge to rectify what he considered society’s ills. For instance, he refused to register for WWII’s draft, and during the civil rights movement, he worked as an advisor to Martin Luther King, eventually becoming the architect of the historic March on Washington in 1963, the massive protest that highlighted inequities faced by African Americans and the poor. For his work as a human rights specialist, he was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Sponsored by Dominion Energy, Wilberforce University has honored Bayard Rustin by creating a series of lectures that bears his name. Thursday, February 2, at 11 am, the first Bayard Rustin Lecture for 2023 will be addressed by Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries, an author, essayist, and professor of African American history at The Ohio State University.
Dr. Jeffries’ works mirror the spirit of the Wilberforce freshman who lived his life in his quote, “The proof that one truly believes is in action.”
Join us for the Dominion Energy sponsored Bayard Rustin Lecture Series, Thursday, February 2, at 11 am.
Join us on the Wilberforce University Facebook page.
