Few people played more significant a role in the civil rights movement than Bayard Rustin. An openly gay man with a history of connections to radical groups, this lifelong peace and racial justice activist often had to operate in the movement’s background. He nonetheless left a remarkable legacy. Rustin helped found two major racial justice organizations – the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). He also was the organizational mastermind behind many of the movement’s major protest efforts, including the 1963 March on Washington.