Retirement Gala for Julian Bond

A cadre of leaders of industry, business, arts, politics, community, culture and education honored civil rights icon Julian Bond in the grand ballroom of The Plaza Hotel in New York on May 2.

The celebration was planned to applaud Bond’s retirement last month from University of Virginia, where he was a professor who taught courses on the Civil Rights Movement for the past 20 years. To ensure that his legacy continues, proceeds from the gala fund-raiser have been earmarked for Julian Bond Professorship in Civil Rights and Social Justice at the University of Virginia. 

Julian Bond served as Chairman of the NAACP from 1998 to 2010. He was a member of the Georgia House of Representatives and Senate for 20 years. He helped to found the Southern Poverty Law Center and served as the organization’s first president. He is a Morehouse College graduate. While there he helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Committee on Appeal for Human Rights, an Atlanta University student civil rights organization that is credited with desegregating the city’s parks, restaurants and movie theatres.

The Gala Committee planned an elegant tribute and enlisted famous admirers, including Whoopi Goldberg, Rita Dove, Bebe Winans, Chrisette Michelle and Charlayne Hunter-Gault to pay homage. Harry Belafonte Jr. (King of Calypso) and Dave Matthews (Dave Matthews Band) served as Distinguished Co-Chairs.

Thaderine D. MacFarlane (Emeritus Trustee of The College Foundation Board at UVA and Kathy Thornton-Bias (President- Retail Division Museum of Modern Art) were the Gala Co-Chairs. A star studded guest list enjoyed popular humorists Wanda Sykes and Chris Tucker, hostess and host for the evening.

Two of Bond’s native St. Louis family members attended the gala; Leslie F. Bond Jr. (Attucks Asset Management – Chicago) and Candace Bond McKeever (Strategic Solutions Group – Los Angeles). They are both proud of the contributions Julian Bond made to the Civil Rights Movement as well his commitment to educating people about the significance of the movement and its continuing impact in our world today.