The University announced yesterday the Concoran Department of History will establish a permanent position called the Julian Bond Professorship in Civil Rights and Social Justice to honor History Prof. Julian Bond's legacy at the University.
Bond, a civil rights activist and former chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, will retire May 1 after 20 years of teaching at the University.
"I was flattered immensely [by the professorship]," Bond said. "I was raised in a scholarly family so to think that one day I would be honored in this way is astounding."
History Department Chair Deborah McDowell said the position would enable the University to honor Bond and the importance of his and his colleagues' work in the 1950s and 60s.
"I think it is an excellent idea and an excellent opportunity for the University to acknowledge the significance of [the] civil rights movement, not just to Virginia, but to the nation," McDowell said.
Bond was also a founding member of the Southern Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and served in the Georgia State Assembly for more than 20 years. Since coming to the University in 1992, Bond has taught more than 5,000 students. In his classes, Bond used his personal experiences with the civil rights movement to provide context for Southern and American history in the last century.
Arts & Sciences Graduate student Tamika Richeson, a former teaching assistant for Bond's History of the Civil Rights Movement course, said Bond always made sure he was accessible to students.
"[A] rewarding part of the experience was that students were allowed to use primary documents from Professor Bond's papers," Richardson said. "He has provided the University with a number of rich resources."
College Dean Meredith Woo said Bond is a valuable resource to the University community because he offers students experiential information about how they can make an immediate impact on the country.
"It has been important for many of our students to interact with a real political, cultural and social figure because, in many ways, our liberal arts education strives to provide students with leadership skills and a vision," Woo said. "Julian has been a living example of how a man with a vision can accomplish something meaningful to all of us."
Bond said he intends to have an active retirement, maintaining his teaching position at American University in Washington, D.C. and remaining NAACP chairman emeritus.
"It has been a very full life," Bond said. "I look back on it with great fondness. I have no regrets. I don't plan to look backwards but forwards."
To help fund the professorship, a group of alumni and friends have organized the Julian Bond Celebration Gala to take place May 2 at the Plaza Hotel Ballroom in New York. In addition to the gala, there will also be an online auction through the auction website Charity Buzz, whose proceeds will go to the professorship.
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