West Chester Tutors Come To You

For being a small borough in eastern Pennsylvania—dwarfed by the fame and notoriety of Philadelphia—West Chester, which is the county seat of Chester County has produced an astonishing number of influential figures in the United States, from artists to singers to writers and politicians. Among these figures is an important name that popular history has largely forgotten: Bayard Rustin.

Bayard Rustin was born in 1912 in West Chester, and, over seventy-five years, would become an important voice in the civil and gay rights movements of the 1960s and 1980s. Rustin’s home life was active and engaging; he was one of nine children raised in a large house by his grandparents, who were wealthy and worked as caterers. Rustin’s parents were politically and religiously engaged, as his mother Julia was a Quaker and active community participant, notably a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Growing up, Rustin was primed to work for social justice. Notable leaders of the NAACP were frequent guests in the Rustin home, including W.E.B. DuBois and James Weldon Johnson. Influenced by their charisma and ideas, Rustin vigorously campaigned against Jim Crow laws, as well as labor strikes at Wilberforce University in Ohio, where he attended after high school.

His career was a long and notable one. Controversial for his day, Rustin was monitored by the FBI closely due to his Communist Party affiliations. Notwithstanding the scrutiny, he was involved in organizing the defense for the infamous Scottsboro Boys, who were wrongly accused of raping two white women. Rustin also campaigned against segregation in schools throughout the south, as well as desegregating the United States military following World War II. During the 1960s, he played a key role in the direction of the Civil Rights movement—including organizing the famous March on Washington lead by Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1963. Despite his controversial political affiliations, Rustin strongly believed that change should be accomplished through peaceable means. Influenced by his Quaker upbringing, deep in the cultural fabric of eastern Pennsylvania, he consistently endorsed methods of civil disobedience, rejecting the sometimes violent tactics by many of his peers in the Civil Rights movement.

Later in life, Rustin became involved in the Gay Rights movement; he himself was a gay man at a time when homosexual relationships were socially unacceptable. He testified on behalf of New York State’s gay rights bill, and, with the urging and support of his partner Walter Naegle, Rustin further embraced the role of ally to the marginalized before he passed away in 1987. His obituary quoted him, saying: “The principal factors which influenced my life are 1) nonviolent tactics; 2) constitutional means; 3) democratic procedures; 4) respect for human personality; 5) a belief that all people are one.”

Rustin’s commitment to equality and the hard work of the civil rights movement is an example to all, including tutors in West Chester. Tutors may not face the same opposition, or accomplish the same great things as Rustin, but under their watchful service, students can be assured their voices are heard, even if they are discouraged. Rustin’s influence in West Chester is revealed in the compassion, patience, and diligence that Grade Potential tutors espouse with each of their students.