Western Quarterly Meeting and West Chester University’s African American Studies Program are coming together to celebrate Juneteenth and honor the life and legacy of civil rights leader Bayard Rustin—a Chester County native, committed Quaker, and key architect of the modern nonviolent protest movement.
tonya thames taylor of Fallowfield Meeting in Western Quarter and African American Studies Professor at West Chester University will lead a discussion on Michael Long’s book, Bayard Rustin: A Legacy of Protest and Politics (NYU Press, 2024). The selected readings look at Rustin’s impact from the civil rights movement to global human rights, focusing on: what does it mean to be an angelic troublemaker in today’s America and globalization?
Sunday, June 22, 2025
3:00–4:30 PM
Kendal Farm House at Kendal at Longwood
1109 E. Baltimore Pike, Kennett Square, PA 19348 (Please park in lot 6)
For Dr. taylor—who is a Quaker and whose husband is a distant relative of Rustin—the activist’s legacy is both academic and personal. “Rustin emphasized values and integrity,” she notes, “not Western hierarchical identities rooted in power and economics. As Rustin said, ‘My activism did not spring from my being gay, or, for that matter, from my being Black. Rather, it is rooted fundamentally in my Quaker upbringing and the values that were instilled in me by my grandparents who reared me.’”
Taylor explained how this quote highlights Rustin emphasis on values and integrity, not Western hierarchical identities that are rooted in and associated with power dynamics and economics.
Together let us discuss the activism, struggles, and legacy of a Quaker who, like others in his Quaker community, transformed America, as he made real America’s foundational principles and promises of “life, liberty, and pursuits of happiness.”
More information and study questions available at: westernquarterquakers.org
Bayard Rustin: A Legacy of Protest and Politics – Discussion Western Quarterly Meeting Webpage
Contact: tonyathames@gmail.com
