In Memoriam : Julian Bond, civil rights activist, passes away at 75

Julian Bond, civil rights activist and longtime board chairman of the NAACP, has passed away according to Southern Poverty Law Center. He was 75.

Bond died in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., after a brief illness, the SPLC said in a statement released Sunday morning.

Julian Bond was a civil rights icon

The Nashville, Tenn. native was considered an icon of the 1960s civil rights movement.

As a Morehouse College student, Bond helped found the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and as its communications director, he was on the front lines of protests that led to the nation’s landmark civil rights laws.

Bond later served as board chairman of the NAACP for 10 years but declined to run again for another one-year term in 2010. He also served in the Georgia state legislature and was a professor at American University and the University of Virginia.

The SPLC said Bond was a “visionary” and “tireless champion” for civil and human rights.

“With Julian’s passing, the country has lost one of its most passionate and eloquent voices for the cause of justice,” SPLC co-founder Morris Dees said in a statement.

“He advocated not just for African Americans, but for every group, indeed every person subject to oppression and discrimination, because he recognized the common humanity in us all.”

Leaves Behind

Julian Bond is survived by his wife, Pamela Horowitz, a former SPLC staff attorney; 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.

Unheard Voices extends our condolences to Julian Bond’s family and loved ones.