Watch Colman Domingo in official teaser trailer for Netflix’s Rustin!

August 28, 2023 Queer Forty Staff 2 min read

Bayard Rustin was a Black gay civil rights leader who was played down by the Civil Rights movement but in fact he organized the March on Washington. Now his pivotal achievement has been dramatized in a new Netflix drama.

Bayard Rustin was one of the greatest activists and organizers the world has ever known, setting a standard for generations of activists and community organizers after him. Standing at the crossroads of Civil Rights and Gay Rights he never apologized for who he was, what he believed, or who he loved.

The powerful story of Rustin is finally getting the attention it deserves. Colman Domingo will play the driving force behind the 1963 March on Washington in a new film from DGA Award and five-time Tony Award-winning director George C. Wolfe (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom). The performance marks the Emmy winner’s first leading role in a feature film.

For director George C. Wolfe, the project was an opportunity to spotlight Rustin as an example to aspire to. “He is a role model for what it means to be an American, what it means to daily, moment-to-moment, commit to democracy, commit to freedom, commit to possibility, commit to discovery, commit to passing on that which you know to other people,” Wolfe told Netflix in an interview conducted earlier this year. “Democracy is a muscle, and if you don’t exercise it regularly, it ceases to function.”

Produced by Academy Award winner Bruce Cohen, Higher Ground’s Tonia Davis and George C. Wolfe, the film features an all-star cast including Chris Rock, Glynn Turman, Aml Ameen, Gus Halper, CCH Pounder, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Johnny Ramey, Michael Potts, with Jeffrey Wright and Audra McDonald.

Take a look at some stills from this powerful new film.