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US Civil Rights Leader Julian Bond Dies at 75

“Bond understood that the fight against bigotry and discrimination must be waged in every sphere of American life”, said Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

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According to The Associated Press, the former NAACP chairman died Saturday in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., after a brief illness.

GREENE: His activism began in a very different time, and that’s where NPR’s Debbie Elliott picks up the story. As a college student he became involved in the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, where he encountered an activist named Stokely Carmichael. Bond had introduced college students and also employees from the University of Virginia to meet with Lewis and also old U.S. ambassador Andrew Young. And it launched me on a lifetime of movement activity. His job…

A national civil rights leader with ties to the Pensacola area passed away over the weekend.

ELLIOTT: She remembers him as a gifted storyteller, hard at work on a manual typewriter getting out the SNCC message.

ELLIOTT: During Freedom Summer in ’64, Richardson says, Bond would interview white volunteers from the north and send the tapes to media outlets in their hometowns. His presence and voice will be sorely missed, but his words remain true for the NNPA: ‘Good things don’t come to those who wait.

“He didn’t come down to the church to hear us speak”, an amused Bond said to the stunned crowd afterward.

“A voice that has been silenced now is one that I just dont think you can replace, ” Jones said.

Julian Bond, the son of the first African-American president of Lincoln University, was blessed with charisma and charm. It was not unusual for scholars such as W.E.B. DuBois were frequent houseguests in his youth. The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Mr. Bond be seated; he went on to serve 20 years in the state House and Senate.

“I voted for Julian”, Brooks told Geary.

Bond was also known for his firm opposition to American involvement in the Vietnam War. I ran for the vacancy.

“I didn’t dream that Republicans would be as bold and as racist as they are”.

In a 1973 address at the National Black Catholic Convention in New Orleans, Bond said, “The worsening of the black condition coincides nearly exactly with the coming of the Nixon administration”, adding, “Government attitudes have changed form a maligned concern to belligerent neglect”.

Julian Bond on the “Callaway-Ruddle Report” on WTTW in 1976.

Yet, even then the tide was turning toward a more militant and uncompromising effort that Bond and other young people would lead. This is the type of social justice for which I remember Bond. They’re really…

In addition to teaching at UVa and American University, Bond served as the chair of the NAACP, and co-founded the Southern Poverty Law Center. He recruited Bond to be the organization’s first president. He was the president of the organization between 1971 and 1979 and was a member of its board of directors at the time of his death. His cool, calm demeanor provided the backbone of a movement. He was described simultaneously as activist, writer, politician, intellectual and educator, advancing the cause of civil rights utilizing the tools of all three roles. As chairman emeritus of the NAACP…

Bond was a strong supporter of women’s rights.

The family of Julian Bond will hold a private service for the civil rights leader on Saturday. I am sending my prayers and condolenscenes to his family in their time of mourning. But, of course, that meant really integrating all of society in the end.

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“Julian Bond helped change this country for the better”, it continued.

Julian Bond, dedicated fighter for civil rights: editorial