Julian Bond, a pivotal member of the civil rights movement and former chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has died.
According to the Associated Press, the news was confirmed by the Southern Law Poverty Center, a nonprofit legal advocacy organization he founded in 1971. Bond passed away in his Florida home after battling an unknown illness. The civil rights leader began his career at Morehouse College by founding the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee leading protests over equal rights for black people. He also went on to work with other civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. After he was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1965, he was refused a seat by white members for his beliefs. One year later, he was able to take his seat with the support of the first amendment.
He went on serve 20 years in the two houses of the legislature, helping to fund sickle cell anemia testing and providing low-income housing in Georgia. He continued to speak out for civil rights and gay rights with Coretta Scott King.
President Obama released a statement about Bond Sunday morning.
"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 N.A.A.C.P.," the president said. "Julian Bond helped change this country for the better. And what better way to be remembered than that."
Bond is survived by wife, Pamela Horowitz and his five children, Phyllis Jane Bond-McMillan, Horace Mann Bond II, Michael Julian Bond, Jeffrey Alvin Bond, and Julia Louise Bond; his brother, James Bond; and his sister, Jane Bond Moore. He was 75 years-old.
Source: Associated Press | Photo Credit: Screenshot
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