By Alicia Powell
NEW YORK (Reuters) – When the biographical drama film “Rustin” was released in 2023, it served as a history lesson for some and a walk down memory lane for others.
“It was a beautiful time, I felt like I was in a heavenly choir,” said Brenda Beadenkopf, whose late father, Charlie Walker, worked with the real-life Bayard Rustin to plan the 1963 March on Washington.
Beadenkopf attended the march at age 15 and recalls singing many songs, including the anthem of the civil rights movement, “We Shall Overcome.”
The Netflix-distributed movie stars “The Color Purple” actor Colman Domingo as Rustin and chronicles how the gay civil rights activist planned the 1963 March on Washington with over 200,000 people in attendance to combat racism in the United States.
Domingo received a best actor Oscar nomination for his portrayal of the late activist.
Sarah Davidson, currently an activist in Washington, D.C., traveled from Arkansas to attend the march at the age of 15.
The film allowed her to feel Rustin’s spirit and even understand him in a new way.
Davidson was impressed with how diverse the crowds were after feeling that Black people were the only ones fighting for the rights of their own communities.
“I had never seen that many people come together. I felt that people in America really cared about me. It became very real to me then,” she said.
Similarly, Robert Avery, also 15 at the time, and his friends hitchhiked from Alabama with the goal of joining the march no matter what.
“Look, our plans were to get to Washington and participate in the march. We had no other plans, we had no idea where we were going to stay, when we were going to get there, or any of those things,” Avery said.
Despite not having a detailed plan, Avery and his friends quickly found themselves becoming the focus of multiple interviews about their journey.
A highlight of his venture was meeting Rustin and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as Dr. King’s speech resonated deeply with Avery.
“I just felt like, wow, he’s talking to me about me,” Avery said.
“I think that was the feeling I came away with, from that march, and from that speech, that it was about me, and when I say about me, I mean about us,” he added.
(Reporting by Alicia Powell and Danielle Broadway; Edited by Mary Milliken and Sandra Maler)
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