Bayard Rustin Residence

Bayard Rustin, the openly gay strategist behind the civil rights movement, lived in Apartment 9J of this Penn South cooperative building from 1962 until his death in 1987. He organised the August 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom from here, in about two months. He had earlier advised Martin Luther King Jr. on nonviolent tactics and was repeatedly pushed out of visible roles because he was gay. Later in life he testified in support of New York City's gay rights bill. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is a private residential co-op, so what you can visit is the exterior on West 28th Street. Chelsea's galleries and the High Line are a short walk west.