January 23, 2024
K-State SAGA and Spectrum Center host 'Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin' film screening
Celebrating the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement, the Sexuality and Gender Alliance student organization with the Spectrum Center in the Department of Student Belonging and Inclusion will host a screening of the influential documentary film, "Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin." This documentary screening is in celebration of events for Martin Luther King Jr. Observance Week.
The campus community is invited to view the award-winning documentary on Tuesday, Jan. 23, at the Morris Family Multicultural Student Center. The event begins at 6 p.m. in the Oneok Room.
The pivotal documentary explores the life and role of Bayard Rustin within the civil rights movement with King and the erasure of queer identity during the civil rights movement. "Brother Outsider" creates a multifaceted approach to the complexity of the life of Rustin in the era of the civil rights movement.
Inspired by his Quaker upbringing and an advisor to Martin Luther King Jr., Rustin became one of the leading architects of the 1963 March on Washington during the Civil Rights Movement. Rustin was a leader and inspiration to many in the fight for civil rights. Rustin also was unapologetically living as an openly gay man during this time — facing not just racism but homophobia as well. Although Rustin was silenced and threatened by his peers and under investigation by government agencies, he served as an outspoken leader for several decades. It was not until after his death that he was recognized with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2013.
The documentary "Brother Outsider" is the recipient of more than 25 awards and honors, and it was featured at showings at the United Nations, the Kennedy Center and the U.S. Congress. This telling of the life of Rustin has helped to reassert the erased history and identities in the Civil Rights Movement.
All are welcome to attend.