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Pushed to the Shadows: The Erasure of Bayard Rustin One of Bayard Rustin’s most famous quotes, “We need, in every community, a group of angelic troublemakers”(Down the Line 89) is perhaps one of the best ways to describe him. An angelic troublemaker throughout his whole life, Bayard Rustin brought Gandhi’s principles of peace to America, supported both the LGBT community and the Civil Rights movement, and activated protests all over the world. By uniting both the gay and black communities, he brought both communities to the forefront of the public eye and elevated hundreds of protests. Though he achieved so much for so many people, Bayard Rustin has been erased from Civil Rights history because of his openness with his sexuality and he deserves much more recognition. Growing up in rural Pennsylvania, Rustin found himself in one of the largest Quaker populations in the country. He was born to his 16-year-old mother, whom he thought was his sister until he was almost 14 years old. His grandparents raised him as a through-and-through Quaker, and he excelled in school, influenced by his grandmother, who was the first black person in their county to graduate high school (D’Emilo 8). Living along the remnants of the underground railroad and the descendant of slaves, he quickly found his passion of educating his neighbors about their history and helping them to understand that peace can always be the solution. His grandmother, Julia, became the dominant role model in his life. She was the first person in the county to join the NAACP, and encouraged Rustin to find truth in all religions, often comparing modern-day struggles of African Americans to the plight of the ancient Jews (D’Emilo 12). As Rustin wrote, “My activism did not spring from my being gay, or, for that matter,