Julian Bond

Greetings my fellow Observers,

As you may know, the great civil rights activist Julian Bond passed away this weekend at the age of 75 after years of dedicating his life to fighting for the rights of all people, but out of necessity, mostly African Americans.

There will be tributes galore for this man because white people will feel obligated and black people will be dedicated to celebrate his life's work. Plus, not many African American men are allowed to achieve greatness in this society. Don't get me wrong, a whole lot of brothers are making bank, but affecting change in America, I think not.

With that said Mad Man will just give you some highlights of the life and career of a very special man.

* Horace Julian Bond was born in Nashville, Tennessee, (Mad Man's homeboy), in Hubbard hospital in 1940. Hubbard Hospital was the black people's hospital at the time.

* His mother Julia Agnes Washington was the former librarian at Clark Atlanta University and his Father Horace Mann Bond was an educator and the President of Lincoln University, a prominent HBCU.

* Julian Bond graduated from high school in 1957 from "George School" a private Quaker preparatory boarding school near Newton in Bucks County Pennsylvania.

* While attending Morehouse college during the 60's, Mr. Bond helped establish the Southern Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).

* He was elected four terms in the Georgia House of Representatives and six terms in the Georgia Senate. From 1998-2010 he was chairman of the NAACP.

* Mr. Bond was also one of the founders and the first President of the Southern Poverty Law Center that fought inequality in the south.

* Julian Bond fought the likes of segregationists Lester Maddox, Howard Callaway, and Lieutenant Governor Peter Zack Geer who tried to force him to vote for these racist men.

* Even then, the whites in political power tried to diminish Julian Bond's influence by reconstituting his district.
1967-1969: 136th
1969-1973: 111th
1973-1974: 32nd

* During the 1980's and 1990's Julian Bond taught at American University, Drexel, Harvard, and the University of Virginia.

* On July 28, 1961, Julian Bond married Alice Clopton, a student at Spelman college. Before divorcing in 1989, they had 5 children, Phyllis Jane Bond-McMillan, Horace Mann Bond II, Michael Julian Bond, (an at large member of Atlanta's City Council), Jeffrey Alvin Bond, and Julia Cooper Bond. He eventually married Pamela S. Horowitz, an attorney, on April 26, 1991.

Obviously, the above mentioned information pales in comparison to Julian Bond's fight for equal rights with the likes of Martin Luther King, Jr., Medgar Evers, Congressman John Lewis, Jesse Jackson, Ralph Abernathy, and all of the others who in their quest to pave the way for African Americans to be recognized as human beings.

Unfortunately, the fight continues and we all must applaud Horace Julian Bond for never giving up on what sometimes appears to be a winless battle, so all Americans, regardless of race creed or color, should show respect and admiration for this man and his efforts.

Mad Man