[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve8b-bJCMDM?rel=0]
UNCA Ramsey Library Video Production has just released the recording of Civil Rights legend Julian Bond’s visit to UNCA during Black History Month of February, 2004. The speech is titled ‘Affirmative Action: The Just Spoils of a Righteous War.‘
Who was Julian Bond? Bond was a legend of the American Civil Rights movement. As a Civil Rights activist, he took part in sit-ins at segregated Atlanta lunch counters and was one of the original leaders of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee working directly with Mr. Martin Luther King Jr. himself even. Bond also spoke out in support of students opposing the war in Vietnam, served multiple terms as both a Georgia State House Representative and a State Senator, hosted the television program America’s Black Forum, was the founder and president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, was a widely popular author and lecturer, and famously served as the chairman of the N.A.A.C.P from 1998-2010.¹
Interestingly, Bond was offered both to be the first Democratic vice presidential candidate and later a cabinet position in the Carter administration, both of which he refused.¹ On Bond’s passing last year in 2015, president Obama expressed his loss by saying, “Julian Bond was a hero and, I’m privileged to say, a friend. Justice and equality was the mission that spanned his life – from his leadership of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, to his founding role with the Southern Poverty Law Center, to his pioneering service in the Georgia legislature and his steady hand at the helm of the NAACP. Michelle and I have benefited from his example, his counsel, and his friendship – and we offer our prayers and sympathies to his wife, Pamela, and his children. Julian Bond helped change this country for the better. And what better way to be remembered than that.”²
Still interested in learning more about Julian Bond? Read more about him in Ramsey Library’s Online Reference Databases such as Credo Reference and Gale Virtual Reference Library.
If you enjoyed the video, check out many others like it on UNCA Ramsey Library Video Production’s Youtube Channel where we have more than 100 videos of UNCA’s past visiting speakers, student projects, special presentations, performances, commencement addresses, and many others. You can also get support creating quality audio-visual projects yourself from the experts (and creators of these videos) from Ramsey Library’s Media Design Lab and Video Production Studio.
Have questions? Find answers here: libanswers.unca.edu
Sources:
¹”Julian Bond (1940–).” 2012. In African American Almanac : 400 Years of Triumph, Courage and Excellence, Lean’tin Bracks. Canton: Visible Ink Press. https://0-search.credoreference.com.wncln.wncln.org/content/entry/vipaaalm/julian_bond_1940/0
²”Statement by the President on the Passing of Julian Bond.” The White House: Office of the Press Secretary. August 16, 2015. https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/08/16/statement-president-passing-julian-bond
