This free event will honour Julian Bond and include the UK premiere of Julian Bond: Reflections from the Frontlines of the Civil Rights Movement with its director Eduardo Montes-Bradley
Julian Bond was an activist, politician, lawyer, writer, and educator. In the wake of his sudden passing in 2015, this event celebrates the life of one of the key figures in American Civil Rights with a screening of a documentary of his life followed by a discussion with the director of the film and those who worked with Julian Bond and who knew him well.
Activist, Politician, Lawyer, Writer, Poet and Educator, Julian Bond’s social activism and his long-standing service included roles such as Chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the oldest civil rights organisation in America from 1998 to 2010. He had been elected to the Georgia House of Representatives after the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and was re-elected to the Georgia Senate for some 20 years. Bond was the first President of the Southern Poverty Law Centre founded by Morris Dees in 1971 and the Centre’s tribute sums up what Julian Bond has been to so many: “We’ve lost a champion… With Julian’s passing, the country has lost one of its most passionate and eloquent voices for the cause of justice. 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.” President Obama called Julian Bond a hero.
Speakers:
Eduardo Montes-Bradley, the film’sdirector, Heritage Films Project at the University of Virginia, US
Judy Richardson, a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) with Julian in the 1960s. Judy ran Julian Bond’s first successful campaign for the Georgia legislature
Professor Clayborne Carson, Martin Luther King Jr. Centennial Professor of History, Stanford University
Chair: Professor Sharon Monteith, University of Nottingham
Please register at the British Academy event page.