In our year in review, Julian Bond was honored with "most inspiring:"
Most Inspiring:
Julian Bond
E-mails to this site have repeatedly noted hearing Bond speak in person, hearing him on the radio or on television and being, in Trey's words, "blown away."
Rolando: Get this man on regular rotation as a guest! He's not just 'still amazing,' he's even more amazing than he's ever been before. Like a proud panther, he moves with amazing grace that leaves you spellbound.
Hank: The NAACP [http://www.naacp.org/] is an important organization historically but it's easy for me to dub it "old school." Everytime I hear Julian Bond on the radio, I'm reminded me of how much it still matters, how the struggle still goes on and how the last of the brave pioneers is more important and more needed today than ever before.
Sherry:This white woman is in awe of Julian Bond. If you have time, go to the archives [at Air America Place http://airamericaplace.com/] and listen to his May 17th interview on The Majority Report. I've never felt more inspired or more in awe. If there's anyone deserving an award at the end of this dismal year, it's Julian Bond.
Keesha:I don't care if he's on Tavis [Smiley]'s show, on with Tom Joyner, on Democracy Now! or The Majority Report, I'm front and center. There are so many who turn into gas bags as they age and have nothing to offer but dusty recollections of the way things were and what they once did to change them -- not Julian Bond. He's still pertinent and vital and a part of today's struggle. Lead on Mr. Bond, I'm marching right behind you.
Obviously, many know who he is.
From the Southern Poverty Law Center:
As an activist who has faced jail for his convictions, as a veteran of more than 20 years of service in the Georgia General Assembly, as a writer, teacher, and lecturer, Julian Bond has been on the cutting edge of social change since he was a college student leading sit in demonstrations in Atlanta in 1960.
Bond also has a long history with the Southern Poverty Law Center. When Morris Dees and Joseph J. Levin, Jr. founded it in 1971, Bond became its first president. He served as president emeritus for years, and today serves on its board of directors.
From the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee:
Horace Julian Bond was born in January 1940, in Nashville, Tennessee. His father, Dr. Horace Mann Bond was a dedicated educator. Among other accomplishments, Dr. Bond was the first black president of Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, the oldest black private college in the U. S. Julian Bond graduated from a coeducational Quaker school in Pennsylvania and then entered Morehouse College in Atlanta. He was very active at Morehouse. He was a member of the varsity swimming team. He was one of the founding members of a literary magazine called The Pegasus and interned at Time magazine.
While at Morehouse, Bond also helped found the student civil rights organization the Committee on Appeal for Human Rights (COAHR). COAHR led non-violent anti-segregation protests that led to the integration of movie theaters, lunch counters, and parks in Atlanta.
From the NAACP:
He was a founder, in 1960, while a student at Morehouse College, of the Atlanta student sit-in and anti-segregation organization, and of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). As SNCC's Communications Director, Bond was active in protests and registration campaigns throughout the South.
Elected in 1965 to the Georgia House of Representatives, Bond was prevented from taking his seat by members who objected to his opposition to the Vietnam War. He was re-elected to his own vacant seat and un-seated again, and seated only after a third election and a unanimous decision of the United States Supreme Court.
He was co-chair of a challenge delegation from Georgia to the 1968 Democratic Convention. The challengers were successful in unseating Georgia's regular Democrats, and Bond was nominated for Vice-President, but had to decline because he was too young.
From Spartacus School Net:
In 1971 Bond joined with Morris Dees and Joseph J. Levin to established the Southern Poverty Law Centre (SPLC). An organization that helped to bankrupt the United Klans of America after the lynching of Michael Donald in 1981.
From Wikipedia:
He has been a lecturer at the University of Virginia since 1990 and a professor there since 1998. In addition, he has been a professor at American University, near his Washington, DC home, since 1991.
From Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement:
Bond's teaching experience includes being a Pappas Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania and a Visiting Professor at Drexel University, Harvard University, and Williams College. He is currently a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the American University in Washington, D.C., and a Professor at the University of Virginia in the Department of History, where he is co-director of Explorations in Black Leadership.
Any of the links above will provide you with additional information about Julian Bond.
Additional resources:
Peacework hosts an article by Bond entitled "Race: The Enduring Problem of the 20th Century."
AlterNet hosts a speech by Bond entitled "Reclaim the Land of Opportunity."
Progressive Trail Org. has Bond's "Jim Crow's New Party."
People's Weekly World Newspaper Online has "Freedom Under Fire," "Together, we can ‘let America be America again’" and "Strom Thurmond: Relic of past overstayed his welcome."
Tom Paine.com has numerous articles including "The Broken Promise of Brown."
The Rutherford Institute has an interview with Julian Bond.
Education Update Online has a brief interview with Bond.
Democracy Now! has an excerpt of Julian Bond delivering his speech "Freedom Under Fire:" As Bush Infuriates African Americans By Refusing to Talk with NAACP Leaders, We'll Hear About Bush's Civil Rights Record From NAACP Chairman Julian Bond. [L]
Democracy Now! also has an excerpt of a film narrated by Bond Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear & the Selling of American Empire [L,W,R]
Julian Bond is also among the people weighing in during Democracy Now!'s Democracy Now! Special Broadcast: Reaction to John Kerry's Concession and the Reelection of George W Bush [L]
Julian Bond spoke at the March for Women in January, 2004.
He gave the "Civil Rights Memorial Dedication Speech" in November, 1989.
PBS's Frontline has the text of an interview with Bond.
CounterPunch has the text of Julian Bond's speech "The Future is Ours & We Shall be Heard."
Julian Bond has published numerous articles and books.
Today begins Black History Month. Having highlighted Susan Sontag and John L. Hess after they were gone, it made sense (to me) to start off Black History Month by highlighting a strong voice while they were still with us.
Kat (Kat's Korner) is going to highlight at least once during the month. If you would like to highlight someone during Black History Month, please e-mail this site at common_ills@yahoo.com. You can make a suggestion or you can write your own entry which will be posted. If you write your own entry, it can be as long as this, longer than this or shorter. You can provide links or not.