I thought I’d share a very recent experience about discovering something new and then adding something related to it to Google Maps.
February in the U.S. is Black History Month. I try to take time every February to reflect and dig a little deeper into important contributions by Black Americans and others that positively impact my life and the life of my family.
I’ve learned new things every year, but 2020 has been really unique for me and I want to share my discovery with others, so lean back and follow my multi-pointed logic here.
In January, I stumbled across an article about Bayard Rustin. Many know famous key moments of the Civil Rights Movement and that they collectively pushed the passage of legislation that legally secured several fundamental civil rights for women and minorities in America.
I honestly can say that I had never heard of Bayard Rustin before. Ever. As my mind processed Mr. Rustin’s life story, I had the self-realization that there may be lots of people who’ve missed out on learning about this man’s extraordinary contributions to American life and society.
I promise there is a Google Maps and Local Guides angle to this. Stay with me.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is renowned for his approach to demand racial equality through non-violent direct action and civil disobedience, thereby being viewed as peacefully engaging racist white authorities.
There are marches that Dr. King directly led or inspired that recall vivid imagery of people peacefully demonstrating in public spaces and being attacked by fire hoses, dogs, baton-wielding policemen and hostile civilians.
In February 1956, Bayard Rustin arrived in Montgomery, Alabama to assist Dr. King and other organizers with the just-started boycott of the city’s segregated busing system. From all that we can gather, Dr. King had not yet personally embraced nonviolence and had not yet employed any such tactics in the real world. In fact, there were guns placed throughout King’s home that was also constantly protected by armed guards. Dr. King’s own 1958 memoir about this protest confirms as much when he says: “At this time, however, I had a merely intellectual understanding and appreciation of the position, with no firm determination to organize it in a socially effective situation.”
Rustin was well-versed in nonviolence as he had traveled to India in 1948 and received 7 weeks of training to learn techniques from leaders of the Gandhian movement. He convinced Dr. King to abandon the armed protection, including the minister’s personal handgun. Rustin persuaded the Montgomery boycott leaders to adopt complete nonviolence, teaching them Gandhian nonviolent direct protest. Using peaceful means, the protestors eventually claimed victory when racially segregated busing was deemed unlawful by the courts.
Starting then and for the next 5 years, Bayard Rustin served as a key member of Dr. King’s trusted inner circle of advisors and profoundly steered Dr. King to be completely committed to the practice of nonviolent direct action and civil disobedience to fight for racial equality. Rustin later helped organize (as de facto leader) the famous March on Washington in August 1963 when Dr. King delivered his historic, I Have a Dream speech in front of approximately 250,000 people.
Despite Bayard Rustin’s record as an effective leader of the Civil Rights Movement and his position as one of Dr. King’s trusted confidants, his reputation and prominence in the histories have been obscured by the fact that he was a homosexual black man in America during a time when being such almost guaranteed being marginalized in society. He was often not credited for his contributions and forced to maintain a low profile due to his guilty plea to a 1953 California criminal charge of “sex perversion” with another man—a crime even if it was consensual—and being forced to register as a sex offender. All such laws in the United States were invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court in its 2003 Lawrence v. Texas decision.
Thankfully, the Governor of California recently granted Bayard Rustin a much-delayed pardon that cleared his criminal record so that, hopefully, his full slate of civic contributions can be more known by the public.
Bayard Rustin’s reputation was always a lightning rod for his critics, yet he strove to do his absolute best to support the movement for racial equality and social justice. Imagine if Rustin had not endured to stay in Montgomery to counsel Dr. King to adopt and implement the nonviolent philosophy and practices that the young preacher became universally famous for? What if he had given up and not continued with organizing the March of Washington in 1963? It is a wonderful thing that those questions are no longer in play. Despite the lack of mainstream recognition, Bayard Rustin proved to be a good man who helped bring about monumental legal, societal and cultural changes–even if from a behind-the-scenes position–that continue to positively impact millions upon millions of people in the United States today.
You’re still here. What does this have to do with Google Maps and Local Guides?
I searched Google Maps after reading the article. First, I only found a few nonimmigrant map listings for points related to Bayard Rustin that included an elementary school in Maryland, a high school in Pennsylvania, an education complex in New York City, and a nonprofit group in New Jersey.
Then I discovered that the U.S. National Parks Service recently recognized Bayard Rustin’s last residence in New York City as a significant location and added it to the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. Some member of Local Guides, not me, added Bayard Rustin Residence to Google Maps shortly after a June 2018 public ceremony when a historical plaque was placed in front of the building. I think that addition is fantastic. I did some research and found one additional physical point of recognition for Bayard Rustin.
I then discovered that the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission dedicated an official State Historical Marker to Bayard Rustin in 1995 in front of Bayard Rustin’s alma mater, Henderson High School in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The marker, of course, only has enough room to recognize Rustin’s contributions to the 1963 March on Washington and his work with A. Philip Randolph, another icon of the Civil Rights Movement. There is no space to describe how this man influenced a [Dr.] King and set him on a unique trajectory in his historic fight for essential rights and liberties on behalf of the disenfranchised and underrepresented in America.
My final point about Google Maps & Local Guides
I suggested the addition of the Pennsylvania marker in its correct location and, rather than having the Google Maps software immediate approve my request, was forced to patiently wait almost exactly 32 days before the addition was approved and published. While waiting (anxiously), I devoured previously unknown-to-me reading material about Bayard Rustin. Regardless of his orientation, or the fact that he was viewed as a criminal for a long time, this man influenced the Civil Rights Movement so that it was as successful as it was that no number of historical markers can ever come close to quantifying his importance to American history.
I honestly believe Google Maps and the Local Guides community can play a part in making sure that no part of history is unavailable to people when they seek out knowledge and information. I think I did a little bit in helping people who are curious about the U.S. Civil Rights Movement and all of its people who played a part.
Just imagine… if you and I could never add something like a missing marker to a map because some governmental or exclusive socioeconomic authority deemed it as unimportant or unnecessary to be discovered by regular people. I dread that day, should it ever arrive.
#BlackHistoryMonth #LocalGuides #GoogleMaps #BayardRustin #CivilRights #MapMyWorld #OurHistory