The Chicago Public Library's Edgewater Branch, 6000 N. Broadway, launched an ongoing series called Modern Lives & Movements.
Focusing on a different topic every two months, Modern Lives & Movements is an interrelated series of film screenings, book discussions and author talks exploring the lives and works of individuals whom have made significant contributions to cultural, economic, intellectual, political and scientific history in the modern age. Through the months of July & August 2013, the series will focus on civil-rights activist and organizer Bayard Rustin.
Film Screening:
Saturday, July 13 at 2 p.m.
Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin (Documentary, 83 min.)
During his career as an activist and organizer, Rustin formulated many of the strategies that propelled the American civil rights movement. His belief in Gandhi's philosophy of nonviolence drew Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other leaders to him in the 1940s and 50s. In 1963, Rustin organized the March on Washington, the biggest protest America had ever seen, but his open homosexuality forced him to remain in the background.
Book Discussion:
Tuesday, August 6 at 6:30 p.m.
Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin by John D'Emilio
This National Book Award finalist examines Rustin's intertwined lives: his pioneering public person and his stigmatized and oblique private self. Rustin came of age during the Great Depression and received his first lessons in politics through the Communist Party. He went to prison for refusing to serve in World War II and threw himself into the early campaigns of the civil rights and anti-nuclear movements until an arrest for sodomy nearly destroyed his career. Rustin remained until his death in 1987, committed to the causes of world peace, racial equality, and economic justice.
Author Talk:
Saturday, August 17 at 2 p.m.
A conversation with author John D'Emilio
Author and biographer John D'Emilio (Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin) discusses how Rustin's career as a social justice and peace activist speaks to the current moment. D'Emilio is a Professor of Gender and Women's Studies and History at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and author of numerous books including Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America.
For more information, visit chicagopubliclibrary.org or call the Chicago Public Library at (312) 742-1945.