Obituaries

Veteran Civil Rights Campaigner Julian Bond Dies At 75

The former NAACP board chair and Southern Poverty Law Center co-founder died Saturday night. He was 75 years old.

Veteran Civil Rights Campaigner Julian Bond Dies At 75
Getty Images / Mark Wilson
Article by Sebastian Martinez
SMS
August 16, 2015

Long-time civil rights campaigner Julian Bond has died. 

Bond served as chairman of the NAACP, and as a young advocate, co-founded the Southern Poverty Law Center, which not only supports racial equality issues, but other civil rights issues like the LGBT movement. (Video via  Southern Poverty Law Center)

"Gay and lesbian rights are not special rights in any way. It isn't special to be free from discrimination. It is an ordinary, universal entitlement of citizenship," Bond told the Human Rights Campaign.

Bond himself was a strong supporter of gay marriage, and firmly believed gay rights were civil rights, a position disputed by some African American leaders, but shared by other campaigners of Bond's generation. 

Bond also served in both houses of the Georgia legislature, and was symbolically nominated for vice president in 1968. At 28, Bond was too young to serve. 

Bond is survived by his wife and five children. He was 75 years old.