A Song for the Unsung

A Song for the Unsung: Bayard Rustin, the Man Behind the 1963 March on Washington

Every movement has its unsung heroes: individuals who work in the background without praise or accolades, who toil and struggle without notice. One of those unsung heroes was at the center of some of the most important decisions and events of the Civil Rights Movement.

That hero was a quiet man, a gay African American man, and a Friend. He was Bayard Rustin.

On August 28, 1963, a quarter of a million activists and demonstrators from every corner of the United States convened for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. It was there and then that they raised their voices in unison to call for racial and economic justice for all Black Americans, to call out inequities, and ultimately to advance the Civil Rights Movement.

Praise for A Song for the Unsung:

"A rare tribute to a heroic figure of the civil rights movement . . . McCray captures both a sense of the time’s widespread turmoil and of the march’s grand “mosaic of Americans” in collages that incorporate acrylics, scraps of newspaper, music, and decorated papers . . . Effectively raises the profile of an African American crusader who was stigmatized for more than his race alone." ―Kirkus Reviews

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