Netflix’s ‘Rustin’ spotlights a little-known West Chester hero: Civil rights icon Bayard Rustin’s grandmother Julia

There’s a reason you might not know the name Bayard Rustin. The civil rights leader, after whom a Chester County high school is named, was a close adviser to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the architect of the 1963 March on Washington. He was also gay.

A new Netflix biopic Rustin aims to give the civil rights leader his flowers after decades of history ignored his monumental contributions because of his sexuality. But there’s another name that the film wants you to know, too: Ma Rustin.

Julia Rustin, or Ma, takes on a mythical role in the movie. Bayard Rustin, played with elegance and quick wit by West Philly-raised actor Colman Domingo, who was nominated for a Golden Globe award this week for his role here, recalls her wise sayings often.

In crafting his dialogue, screenwriters Julian Breece and Dustin Lance Black made clear that Rustin’s principles came from his grandmother, who raised him as a Quaker in West Chester.

A nurse, Julia Rustin was a pillar in her community and a member of the NAACP, hosting civil rights thinkers like W.E.B. DuBois and Mary McLeod Bethune. Her home, which she shared with her husband, Janifer Rustin, was a gathering place for African Americans in their neighborhood and beyond.

They raised Bayard as their son, after their daughter Florence gave birth at 17. He grew up thinking she was his sister.

Though much of the film centers on New York and Washington, Rustin’s West Chester background and Quaker upbringing are key talking points for the activist as he navigates homophobia and violent rhetoric from his fellow civil rights leaders. It’s Ma’s words that he cites as guiding stars.

“When I told Ma Rustin I preferred dancing with boys instead of girls, she said, ‘What would you have me do with that?’ Then she said, ‘I suppose that’s what you need to do,’ ” he says in the film.

That line stuck with Domingo, who is also gay.

“What an answer. ‘What do you want me to do with that?’ And then she moved on,” Domingo told The Inquirer. “She knew and loved him for all that he was.”

Domingo learned of Bayard Rustin as a 19-year-old in the Black Student Union at Temple University, kick-starting a long-standing curiosity that led him to explore Rustin’s archives and study his life some 35 years before he landed the role.

“He was one of the most brilliant, imaginative thinkers, and organizers this country has ever seen,” said Domingo. “He’s such an original human being.”

The two men have much in common, from their Philadelphia-area roots to their love for theater. The actor listened to Rustin’s 1952 album Elizabethan Songs & Negro Spirituals and studied his writings, interviews, and biographies closely to prepare for the film.

Domingo’s nieces and nephews have attended local Quaker schools, and he appreciated the film’s commitment to crediting Quaker influences.

When he’s not flirting, singing, or directing, Rustin is preaching about his commitment to pacifism. It was Rustin who persuaded King to embrace passive resistance, thanks in part to the Quaker beliefs his grandmother imparted. The film enshrines the Rustin family’s impact as an originating force behind King’s famous stance on nonviolence.

In Rustin, Rustin uses that claim to fame to intrigue his fictional love interest, Elias Taylor, a married man about to inherit a congregation. (It’s an impressive and effective pickup line.) The pair spends hours at a gay bar in New York and after they plan to meet there again, the bar is raided by police.

They’re unscathed, but Taylor leaves deeply shaken over the possibility of being outed. Rustin concedes that he wasn’t abiding by another Ma Rustin guideline — to “only associate with those who have as much to lose as I did.” Their affair doesn’t last.

The March on Washington was a pivotal victory for Rustin, King, and the civil rights movement. Toward the end of the film, Rustin is not included when leaders of the top 10 organizations are invited to the White House — an intentional omission and a foreshadowing.

With a gracious smile, he says he’d happily clean up instead. “Ma Rustin taught me that no man is less valuable because he picks up trash to care for his own,” he says in the film.

Julia Rustin’s lessons have been passed down through Bayard Rustin’s legacy. Now her name, too, will be immortalized for future generations, along with his.

“Rustin” is available to stream on Netflix.