On August 15, 2015, civil rights advocate Julian Bond died from complications of vascular disease. The Nashville-born Bond was 75 years old. He was a co-founder and leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee during the Civil Rights Movement, a 20-year veteran of the Georgia General Assembly, the first African-American nominated to be United States vice president, an anti-Vietnam War activist, president of the Southern Poverty Law Center and chairman of the NAACP for many years.

In a statement about Bond’s death, President Barack Obama said the following:

Julian Bond was a hero and, I’m privileged to say, a friend. Justice and equality was the mission that spanned his life – from his leadership of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, to his founding role with the Southern Poverty Law Center, to his pioneering service in the Georgia legislature and his steady hand at the helm of the NAACP. Michelle and I have benefited from his example, his counsel, and his friendship – and we offer our prayers and sympathies to his wife, Pamela, and his children. Julian Bond helped change this country for the better. And what better way to be remembered than that.

In celebration of that legacy, we reflect on just a few of the inspirational, thought-provoking things Bond has said over the years.

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