Tireless champion of equality and social justice, Julian Bond dies at 75

Blessed with debonair personality, Bond introduced many forward-thinking ideas to Americans

Julian Bond, the son of the first African-American president of Lincoln University, was blessed with charisma and charm. Photogenic, he was a frequent figure and guest on 1960s television, where he used his position to challenge Americans with notions of racial equality and social justice for all. His life before the public eye ended this weekend when he passed away at the age of 75, due to heart disease.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - As a college student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, "Bond was one of the original leaders of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee," according to CNBC. In charge of communications, Bond successfully guided the national news media to stories concerning discrimination and violence in the American south.

A writer, poet, television commentator, lecturer and college teacher, Bond was a persistent opponent of white supremacy. Serving for 20 years in the Georgia General Assembly, some white colleagues saw him as little more than someone seeking undue attention.

Bond moved to the center of the civil rights action in Atlanta, the unofficial capital of the equal rights movement, during the 1960s. His quick intellect and personality found a wide, appreciative audience.

Bond, with Morris Dees, founded the Southern Poverty Law Center, a legal advocacy organization in Montgomery, Alabama. "Bond was its president from 1971 to 1979 and remained on its board for the rest of his life," according to CNBC.

He was nominated "for vice president at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, where he was a co-chairman of a racially integrated challenge delegation from Georgia," according to the New York Times. Too young to meet the constitutional age requirement for that position, Bond quickly became a national figure.

Elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1965, Bond, along with seven other black members, "white members of the House refused to let him take his seat, accusing him of disloyalty," according to CNBC. His standing with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee's stand against the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War was well known at the time.

The Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision in 1966, ordered the State Assembly to seat him, saying it had denied him freedom of speech.

As a lawmaker, Bond sponsored bills to establish a sickle cell anemia testing program and to provide low-interest home loans to low-income Georgians.

"He left the State Senate in 1986 after six terms to run for a seat in the United States House," according to CNBC. He lost to old friend John Lewis, a fellow founder of the student committee and its longtime chair.

No public life is ever free from scandal. During this campaign, the United States attorney's office began investigating allegations surfaced that he Bond had used cocaine. Bond's estranged wife, Alice, reportedly informed police that he habitually abused cocaine. She retracted her accusations after Mayor Andrew Young of Atlanta, telephoned her, leading to speculation that improper political pressure had been used. She later declined to testify before a grand jury, and neither Bond or Young was indicted.

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