Walter Nagel

And then he proceeded.

every day during the march to take a group of them out in the courtyard or back of the Friendship Building and train them in nonviolent crowd control, holding hands and encircling people should there be a disturbance.

How many jeopardies can you afford?

A segregationist senator from South Carolina named Strom Thurmond.

Strom Thurmond, on the floor of the United States Congress, attacked by Rustin as being a pervert and a draft dodger.

At a given point, there was so much pressure on Dr. King about my being gay, and particularly because I would not deny it,

that he set up a committee to explore whether it would be dangerous for me to continue working with him.

Except this time... A. Philip Randolph at that point called a press conference and indicated that Bayard Rustin...

would remain the deputy director and chief organizer of the march, that he had full and complete confidence in the ability of Bayard Rustin, and that the march would indeed go forward.

This is from the New York Times, August 16, 1963, which says, Negro Rally Aid

It certainly was a turning point in Bayard Rustin's civil rights career.

He was given credit for being the organizing architect of the march itself.

It's very strange.

I have a bit of amnesia about how I can't remember how I got to Washington.

I think Joyce told me we flew down.

We all took trains down to Washington.

And we all checked into the Statler Hilton.

The one person who didn't take the train down was Eleanor Holmes Norton, because Bayard felt that one person should stay behind to take any last minute calls or whatever.

What I remember mostly about that day is, you know, running around, trying to set things up.

It's just a lot of people, people I'd never seen before, you know, leaders like Norm Hill.