The Daily Bulletin Archive

By Tony Astran

Julian Bond, chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)—the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization—will speak at 12:15 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center at Rockwell Hall on Thursday, April 2.

He is the keynote speaker for this year’s Leadership Lecture Series. His talk is free and open to the public.

Bond is a distinguished professor at American University and a professor of history at the University of Virginia who has tirelessly served the causes of dignity, peace, and freedom for almost half a century. His speech to campus, “Civil Rights: In the Day, Today, and Tomorrow,” will discuss the long struggle of African Americans for equality, diversity in the legislative process, and the future of civil rights issues.

Eileen Merberg, retention and leadership specialist for campus life, is organizing the Leadership Lecture Series and is thrilled to have Bond as the keynote speaker.

“Part of Buffalo State’s mission is to prepare a diverse group of students for leadership roles and to help them develop as responsible citizens,” she said. “Who better to speak about that than one of the most recognized and significant figures of the Civil Rights Movement? What is especially inspiring to me is that he continues his service and commitment to social change after nearly 50 years.”

In the early 1960s, Bond was a founding member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and led student protests against segregation in public facilities in the South. He served as the first president of the Southern Poverty Law Center from 1971 to 1979 and remains on its board of directors. He served four terms as a Democratic member in the Georgia House of Representatives from 1965 to 1975, and was elected to six terms in the Georgia Senate from 1975 to 1986. He has served as chairman of the NAACP since 1998.

Bond appears frequently on America’s Black Forum, the oldest black-owned show in television syndication. His poems and articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and numerous other publications. He narrated the Academy Award-winning documentary A Time for Justice; the Oscar-nominated The Shadow of Hate; and the critically acclaimed Eyes on the Prize, a 14-hour series on PBS about the Civil Rights Movement.

Bond holds a bachelor of arts in English from Morehouse College and more than 25 honorary degrees. He has served on the boards of many organizations and has received numerous awards, including the prestigious National Freedom Award from the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, and the Human Rights Campaign National Civil Rights Award.

The 2009 Leadership Lecture Series is sponsored by Residence Life, Student Affairs, and the President’s Office. It is funded through an Auxiliary Services Grant, the Faculty-Student Association, and an Equity and Campus Diversity Minigrant.