Civil rights leader gives 1st MLK address

Bond

ulian Bond, whose civil rights work first brought him to national prominence in the 1960s, will deliver the inaugural Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Address at the University at 6 p.m. Friday, January 26.

His talk, "Civil Rights, Now and Then," will be presented in Strong Auditorium on the River Campus. The event, sponsored by the College Diversity Roundtable and the President's Office, is free and open to the public.

"Since his college days, Julian Bond was at the center of the civil rights movement," said Norman Burnett, director of the Office of Minority Student Affairs. "He campaigned for economic justice and peace, he got arrested participating in nonviolent anti-segregation protests, and he worked to pass laws helping consumers, children, and youth. We're honored that he'll present the first Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Address to pay tribute to Dr. King's legacy."

A founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in 1960, Bond was elected in 1965 to a one-year term in the Georgia House of Representatives, but was prevented from taking his seat by members who objected to his opposition to the Vietnam War. He was re-elected the following year and unseated again, and seated only after a third election and a unanimous decision of the United States Supreme Court.

He is chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and is a Distinguished Professor at American University in Washington, D.C., and a history professor at the University of Virginia.

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