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1. How might people who disagreed with Rustin's advocacy have used the charges detailed in these articles against him?
2. In February of 2020 Governor Gavin Newsom of California posthumously pardoned Bayard Rustin on these charges. What does that tell us about California in 1953 versus California today?
![Lecturer Jailed on Morals Charge
In 1953, Bayard Rustin was arrested in Pasadena, California for consensual sexual activity with
another man. In the press, this was euphemistically called a "morals charge, " but readers in the 1950s
would have been able to read between the lines and understand that Rustin's "crime" was simply his
sexuality. Ten years later, noted segregationist Senator Strom Thurmond would rail against Rustin's
sexuality on the floor of the Senate, in an effort to undermine the March on Washington that Rustin had
helped organize with Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.
[From the Los Angeles Times, Jan. 22, 1953] LECTURER JAILED ON MORALS CHARGE
Bayard Rustin, 40-year-old nationally known Negro lecturer, was jailed on a morals charge in
Pasadena early yesterday a few hours after he had spoken on the subject of world peace before the
American Association Of University Women at the Pasadena Athletic Club.Rustin, who was registered at
the Green Hotel is scheduled to address the Pasadena chapter of the American Friends Society on world
conditions this evening at the Pasadena First Methodist Church. He was released on $500 bail pending a
plea at 2 p.m. today before Municipal Judge Burton Noble in Pasadena. When arrested by Pasadena
police, Rustin had $427 in cash on his person -which he said included the proceeds from his previous
night's speech. He was taken into custody when officers spotted him parked in his automobile at Raymond
Avenue at Green Street, Pasadena, in company with Marvin W. Long, 23, of Monterey Park, and Louie
Buono, 23, of Rosemead. All three men were booked on suspicion of lewd vagrancy.
Pasadena Municipal Judge Burton Noble yesterday sentenced Bayard Rustin, 40-year old Negro
lecturer, to 60 days in the county jail on a morals charge. Rustin's attorney, Charles Holloper, failed in an
appeal to free his client on the promise that he would leave this State and return to his home in New York
Rustin pleaded guilty to the charge. He had been arrested by Pasadena police early Thursday in company
with two men in an automobile parked near the Green Hotel. The other men, Marvin W. Long, 23, of
Monterey Park and Louie Buono, 23, of Rosemead, were given similar sentences. A delegation of three
members of the American Friends Society appeared in court, but did not testify on Rustin's behalf. Rustin
had been scheduled to address the latter group at the Pasadena First Methodist Church yesterday. Shortly
before his arrest, Rustin spoke on world peace before the American Society of University Women at the
Pasadena Athletic Club.](https://content.bartleby.com/qna-images/question/7c6a3dff-6729-485c-933e-bf615eefedb6/f1ba12d2-6bf9-40fa-94b3-1321e56f60ef/fq4xy8r_processed.jpeg)
Transcribed Image Text:Lecturer Jailed on Morals Charge
In 1953, Bayard Rustin was arrested in Pasadena, California for consensual sexual activity with
another man. In the press, this was euphemistically called a "morals charge, " but readers in the 1950s
would have been able to read between the lines and understand that Rustin's "crime" was simply his
sexuality. Ten years later, noted segregationist Senator Strom Thurmond would rail against Rustin's
sexuality on the floor of the Senate, in an effort to undermine the March on Washington that Rustin had
helped organize with Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.
[From the Los Angeles Times, Jan. 22, 1953] LECTURER JAILED ON MORALS CHARGE
Bayard Rustin, 40-year-old nationally known Negro lecturer, was jailed on a morals charge in
Pasadena early yesterday a few hours after he had spoken on the subject of world peace before the
American Association Of University Women at the Pasadena Athletic Club.Rustin, who was registered at
the Green Hotel is scheduled to address the Pasadena chapter of the American Friends Society on world
conditions this evening at the Pasadena First Methodist Church. He was released on $500 bail pending a
plea at 2 p.m. today before Municipal Judge Burton Noble in Pasadena. When arrested by Pasadena
police, Rustin had $427 in cash on his person -which he said included the proceeds from his previous
night's speech. He was taken into custody when officers spotted him parked in his automobile at Raymond
Avenue at Green Street, Pasadena, in company with Marvin W. Long, 23, of Monterey Park, and Louie
Buono, 23, of Rosemead. All three men were booked on suspicion of lewd vagrancy.
Pasadena Municipal Judge Burton Noble yesterday sentenced Bayard Rustin, 40-year old Negro
lecturer, to 60 days in the county jail on a morals charge. Rustin's attorney, Charles Holloper, failed in an
appeal to free his client on the promise that he would leave this State and return to his home in New York
Rustin pleaded guilty to the charge. He had been arrested by Pasadena police early Thursday in company
with two men in an automobile parked near the Green Hotel. The other men, Marvin W. Long, 23, of
Monterey Park and Louie Buono, 23, of Rosemead, were given similar sentences. A delegation of three
members of the American Friends Society appeared in court, but did not testify on Rustin's behalf. Rustin
had been scheduled to address the latter group at the Pasadena First Methodist Church yesterday. Shortly
before his arrest, Rustin spoke on world peace before the American Society of University Women at the
Pasadena Athletic Club.
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