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Rustin
Activist Bayard Rustin faces racism and homophobia as he helps change the course of Civil Rights history by orchestrating the 1963 March on Washington.
2023 · Directed by George C. Wolfe · 108 min · Drama · History · Screenplay in the scene database · 10 frames
Tagline
Own your power.
Plot
In 1960, as the civil rights movement fights for racial equality across the United States, activist Bayard Rustin urges Martin Luther King Jr. to lead a protest ahead of the Democratic National Convention. New York Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr. and NAACP leader Roy Wilkins, critical of King's rising popularity and Rustin's influence, threaten to accuse King of a homosexual relationship with the openly gay Rustin, leading to Rustin's resignation from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Three years later, Rustin remains alienated from King and much of the movement, but his commitment to nonviolent action is embraced by many younger activists, including Tom Kahn, his assistant and lover. Planning a large-scale march on Washington, D.C., Rustin enlists the help of A. Philip Randolph, the respected architect of demonstrations that led to such victories as ending racial segregation in the armed forces. Despite support from NAACP organizer Medgar Evers, Wilkins rejects Randolph's and Rustin's plan, and Rustin begins an affair with Elias Taylor, a married organizer and pastor.
Violence against demonstrators in Birmingham receives national attention and spurs Rustin to leave his work at the War Resisters League. Evers is assassinated hours after President John F. Kennedy calls for civil rights legislation. Rustin visits King—remembering being assaulted by police himself in 1942 for refusing to move to the back of a bus—and convinces him to support the march. Wilkins continues to object to Rustin's participation due to his reputation, but Randolph appoints Rustin as his deputy director, fully in charge of organizing the March on Washington.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: Julian Breece, Dustin Lance Black
- Cinematography: Tobias A. Schliessler
- Edited by: Andrew Mondshein
- Music: Branford Marsalis
- Production design: Mark Ricker
- Produced by: Bruce Cohen, Tonia Davis, George C. Wolfe
Cast
- Colman Domingo as Bayard Rustin
- Aml Ameen as Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Glynn Turman as A. Philip Randolph
- Chris Rock as Roy Wilkins
- Gus Halper as Tom
- Johnny Ramey as Elias Taylor
- CCH Pounder as Dr. Anna Hedgeman
- Michael Potts as Cleve Robinson
- Audra McDonald as Ella Baker
- Jeffrey Wright as Rep. Adam Clayton Powell
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English
- Studios: Higher Ground, Bold Choices
- Themes: protest, biography, black activist, lgbt, social issues, activist, 1960s, gay theme, civil rights movement, civil rights march on washington
More by George C. Wolfe
On this film
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