In this powerful episode of In The Life with Dante Harris, we explore the life, leadership, and legacy of Bayard Rustin — the master strategist behind the 1963 March on Washington and one of the most influential yet underrecognized architects of the Civil Rights Movement.

An openly gay Black man navigating mid-20th-century America, Rustin lived at the intersection of identity, activism, and strategy long before the word “intersectionality” entered public conversation. While others stood at the podium, Rustin built the stage.

This episode dives deep into:

• His Quaker upbringing and commitment to nonviolence • His mentorship of Martin Luther King Jr. • The cost of living openly as a gay man during the Civil Rights era • The March on Washington and the discipline behind the dream • The shift from protest to policy and economic justice • What his life teaches us about authenticity, strategy, and integrated identity

More than a history lesson, this is a motivational reflection on what it means to live fully — without fragmentation — while building something that outlives you.

If you’ve ever felt powerful yet precarious… necessary yet questioned… this episode is for you.

Follow, rate, and review In The Life with Dante Harris on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and everywhere you stream. And connect with Dante on social media @iDanteHarris to continue the conversation.

Stay tuned.

In this powerful opening to the LGBTQ Black History Series, Dante shares the intentional decision to rename the podcast—grounding it in the cultural language and legacy of Joseph Beam’s In the Life anthology and the movement of Black queer thinkers who refused to be erased.

This episode is both a story and a study.

Listeners are guided through the lives, work, and impact of Joseph Beam and Essex Hemphill—two literary and activist forces who documented Black gay existence during a time of silence, stigma, and loss. Through poetry, history, and reflection, Dante explores how their work created a blueprint for leadership rooted in truth-telling, community building, archival resistance, and unapologetic identity.

More than a tribute, this episode is a call forward.

It challenges listeners to consider what it means to lead when recognition isn’t guaranteed, to speak when silence feels safer, and to remember the people whose words and courage made today’s visibility possible.

This is not just a history lesson.It’s a continuation.

And it sets the stage for what’s next.

In Living Color host Dante Harris sits down with unconventional drag artist Abigor—the stage persona of William Velazquez, a queer nonbinary creative from Guayama, Puerto Rico. In this powerful conversation, we explore queerness, Caribbean upbringing, gender expansiveness, and the intersection of culture and identity that shaped Abigor’s drag. This episode dives into visibility, resistance, healing, and what it means to exist boldly in a world that demands boxes. Raw, reflective, and unapologetically queer—this is identity in full color.