I Must Resist: Bayard Rustin's Life in Letters

by Bayard Rustin

“There was a discussion about whether Bayard Rustin should be the director of the march,” Lewis recalls. “And there was a caucus that took place between James Farmer, Dr. King, and me, because two of the so-called Big Six, Roy Wilkins and Whitney Young, thought that because of Rustin’s sexual orientation, members of the Senate, especially Southerners, would try to smear the march.” “We caucused,” Lewis says, referring to Farmer and King, “and we came to the conclusion that we wouldn’t get into a fight with Wilkins and Whitney Young. Instead, we would select A. Philip Randolph and let Mr. Randolph select his own deputy. And we all knew that he would select Bayard Rustin because they were that close.”