In the last 20 years, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) awarded its Spingarn Medal to teachers and public servants, Civil Rights activitis and members of Congress. Yesterday, the NAACP presented the award to a man who, in his 69 years, has taken on each role.
Julian Bond, who became a full professor at UVA the same year that he was elected chairman of the NAACP’s National Board (1998), received the Spingarn Award on the final day of the annual NAACP convention yesterday. A press release from UVA Media Relations quotes NAACP president and CEO Todd Jealous as saying that Bond’s "passionate oratory, deep thinking, political savvy and sense of humor make him a unique scholar-statesman of our time, and an omnipresent soldier in the struggle for equality on many fronts." And a darned good teacher, too—sign up for "History of the Civil Rights Movement" now, Wahoos. And give a Wahoowa to Julian Bond.
NAACP chairman and UVA professor Julian Bond received the Spingarn Medal at the organization’s annual convention yesterday.