Julian Bond Featured Speaker for Annual Martin Luther King Commenoration at Appalachian State University in Boone

Press release from Appalachian State University:

January 23, 2015 - Civil rights activist and professor Julian Bond will speak for the 31st Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration at Appalachian State University. 

“An Evening with Julian Bond” begins at 7 PM. in the Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts. The talk is free and open to the public. Bond’s talk is sponsored by the Chancellor’s Commission on Diversity and the Office of Multicultural Student Development.

Bond is a distinguished scholar in residence at the American University in Washington, D.C., and a professor in the University of Virginia’s Department of History, where he is co-director of Explorations in Black Leadership.  From his college days as a founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to his role as former chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Bond has been an active participant in the movements for civil rights, economic justice and peace. 

While still a student at Morehouse College, Bond was a founder of the Committee on Appeal for Human Rights, the student civil rights organization that directed three years of non-violent anti-segregation protests that led to integration of Atlanta’s movie theaters, lunch counters and parks.

Bond served four terms in the Georgia House of Representatives and six terms in the State Senate. The widely published author of many books of poetry, Bond is also author of A Time to Speak, A Time to Act, a collection of his essays, as well as Black Candidates Southern Campaign Experiences.

In 2002, he received the prestigious National Freedom Award. He was named one of America’s top 200 leaders by Time Magazine and in 2008 he was named a “Living Legend” by the Library of Congress.

Appalachian State University offers an acclaimed academic environment, energetic campus life and breathtaking location. Appalachian combines the best attributes of a small liberal arts college with those of a large research university. Known for its value and affordability, Appalachian enrolls about 18,000 students and offers more than 150 undergraduate and graduate majors. Small classes and close interactions between faculty and students create a strong sense of community, which has become an Appalachian hallmark. Appalachian, located in Boone, N.C., is one of 16 universities in the University of North Carolina system.