NAACP Chair Julian Bond at UB Sept. 18
August 26, 2008
Contact: University Relations
Phone: 410.837.5739
NAACP chair and noted civil rights activist Julian Bond will speak on "Civil Rights Then and Now" on Thursday, Sept. 18 at the University of Baltimore School of Law as part of its ongoing Speaker Series. Bond's talk, free and open to the public (due to limited space registration is encouraged; see details below), will take place at 5 p.m. in the Langsdale Library Auditorium, 1420 Maryland Ave.
Bond brings a lifetime of experience as an activist, author, educator and politician with him. As a founding member of both the Student Nonviolence Coordinating Committee and the Southern Poverty Law Center, he is uniquely qualified to speak about the history and the future of the American civil rights movement. His remarks will be followed by a question-and-answer session.
Born in Nashville, Tenn. in 1940, Julian Bond grew up in Pennsylvania and received a Friends education while his father, Horace Mann Bond, served as the first black president of Lincoln University. The younger Bond attended Morehouse College, where he founded a literary magazine and served as an intern at Time magazine.
Bond then began his career as a civil rights activist, including working alongside Morris Dees to found the SPLC. He served as the organization's president from 1971 to 1979, and remains on its board of directors.
Starting in the mid '60s, Bond pursued politics; he was one of eight blacks elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1965, though his fellow members refused to seat him because of his endorsement of the SNCC's opposition to the Vietnam War. Initially rebuffed by a U.S. District Court, Bond took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court, and in 1966, the justices ruled 9-0 in Bond v. Floyd that the Georgia House of Representatives had denied his free speech rights and was required to seat him. He served in the Georgia House from 1965 to 1975, then went to six terms in the Georgia Senate from 1975 to 1986.
Bond's impact on the national political scene was also a key part of the tumultuous 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. While co-leading a delegation from Georgia, Bond, then 28, unexpectedly was proposed as a vice presidential candidate. He declined, citing the constitutional age requirement of 35.
For more than three decades, Bond has contributed to the national dialogue about race. He served as a commentator on America's Black Forum, the oldest black-owned program in syndicated television, and as a narrator for both the Academy-Award winning A Time for Justice and the beloved series Eyes on the Prize.
Since 1998, Bond has served as chairman of the NAACP. In 2002, he received the National Freedom Award, presented by the National Civil Rights Museum. Bond continues to offer his perspective and experience to the national scene, serving as a distinguished adjunct professor at American University in Washington, D.C. and as a member of the history faculty at the University of Virginia.
Registration for "Civil Rights Then and Now" is recommended. To register online, go to online registration for Julian Bond presentation.
For more information about Bond's appearance, send a note to lawevents@ubalt.edu or contact the Office of External Relations at 410.837.6797.
The University of Baltimore is a member of the University System of Maryland and comprises the School of Law, the Yale Gordon College of Liberal Arts and the Merrick School of Business.