Julian Bond:

Biography:

As protester, politician, scholar, and lecturer, Julian Bond has been committed to civil rights, economic justice, and peace since the 1950s. He is perhaps best known for being a cofounder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and later as board chairman of the NAACP, starting in 1998. As a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, Bond joined the sit-in movement from the very beginning, and worked as SNCC’s communications director from 1961 to 1966 of SNCC. For twenty years, from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s, Bond served in the Georgia state legislature. In 1968, Bond led a challenge delegation from Georgia to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, and was the first African-American nominated as Vice President of the United States. Bond cofounded the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and served as its president during the 1970s. In the 1980s and ‘90s, Bond taught at several universities, including American, Drexel, Williams, Pennsylvania, and Harvard. He authored the nationally-syndicated newspaper column “Viewpoint.” He narrated the critically acclaimed PBS series, Eyes on the Prize, and a documentary on the life of New York Congressman Adam Clayton Powell. Bond has published A Time to Speak, A Time to Act, a collection of his essays. His poems and articles have appeared in several magazines and newspapers. Currently, Bond is a Distinguished Visiting Professor at American University in Washington, D.C., and a History professor at the University of Virginia. He has received 25 honorary degrees.

Content of Video:

In this piece, Julian Bond reflects on his connection to SUNY Geneseo, the anniversaries of critically important civil rights legislation, the failure of the George W. Bush administration in addressing Hurricane Katrina, and the state of racism in America, a half century ago and today. 

Video Link: