A new film that centers around a West Chester native civil rights icon is set to premier this fall. Rustin is about gay civil rights activist Bayard Rustin’s pivotal role in organizing the March on Washington in 1963, writes Rosa Cartagena for The Philadelphia Inquirer.  

The film explores how he dealt with homophobia from other activists despite his essential contributions to the Civil Rights Movement. 

Rustin was raised in a home that was frequently visited by activists such as W.E.B. Dubois, due to his grandmother’s participation in the NAACP. He graduated from West Chester High School and briefly attended Cheyney State Teachers College before organizing the first Freedom Rides and cofounding the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Martin Luther King Jr.  

Rustin stars West Philly native Colman Domingo in his breakout role. The new trailer premiered yesterday, and the film will be playing in select theaters on Nov. 3, and is dropping on Netflix on Nov. 17. 

Read more about the West Chester civil rights activist and the new biopic in The Philadelphia Inquirer.