Carlos Figueroa of Ithaca College will explore politics at the confluence of race, religion, sexuality, and policy development. He will speak about his latest book with a talk titled “Bayard Rustin: Black Gay Quaker Thinker and Civil Rights and Labor Activist,” at 7 p.m. Monday, February 15, in the Prairie Room of the Illinois State University Bone Student Center.
The author of the upcoming Quakers, Race and Empire: Political Ecumenism and U.S. Insular Policy Rhetoric, 1898–1917, Figueroa will explore Bayard Rustin’s Quaker sensibilities, and how his reliance on Quaker principles–peace, equality, integrity, simplicity, community, and truth–informed his nonviolent protest, and the lessons that can be drawn to in battles against racial, social, and economic injustices across U.S. cities today.
Figueroa’s talk will be held in conjunction with The Legacy Wall exhibit at Milner Library. The traveling exhibit features “mini-biographies” of lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGBT) and transgender people, and aims to raise awareness of the roles LGBT people have played in shared human history.
The talk is sponsored by Illinois State’s Department of History and the Office of the President. The exhibit is sponsored by the Office of the President and Milner Library.