UNOFFICIAL COPY AS OF 02/14/05 05 REG. SESS. 05 RS BR 1762
A RESOLUTION honoring the accomplishments of Kentucky educator James Bond.
WHEREAS, James Bond was a native son of the Commonwealth, born in 1863 near Lawrenceburg to his mother, Jane Arthur, who was a slave, and both of which were emancipated two years later; and
WHEREAS, in 1879, James Bond enrolled in school at Berea, traveling with a steer to help defray the costs of his education; and
WHEREAS, James Bond entered Berea College in 1886 and later completed his degree, becoming one of only 2000 college-degreed African-Americans in the entire United States at the time; and
WHEREAS, James Bond thereafter enrolled in Oberlin College in Ohio to enter into the ministry and graduated with his bachelor of divinity degree, whereupon he became the pastor of a church in Birmingham, Alabama, took another position for a church in Nashville, and then joined the faculty of Fisk Theological Seminary; and
WHEREAS, during his time in Nashville, James Bond became an outspoken advocate for the repeal of the segregation laws in effect in the city at the turn of the century; and
WHEREAS, James Bond was elected a trustee of Berea College at the time Berea was directed by law to no longer educate black and white students together, and was soon thereafter appointed financial secretary of Berea College and secured funding to start the Lincoln Institute, a school started by Berea College and dedicated to the education of African-American students, where, after its opening, he took an administrative position until he moved to Florida to pastor and teach at Talledega College; and
WHEREAS, the United States entered into the first World War, and James Bond took a position with the Young Men's Christian Association, working with the United States Army teaching literacy classes and lectures for African-American soldiers at Camp Zachary Taylor in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, a position he retained until the end of the war, and he remained with the association, developing programs for African-American communities and serving as director on the Kentucky State Commission on Interracial Cooperation which had been formed to ease interracial tensions; and
WHEREAS, Berea College recognized James Bond's work and awarded him an honorary master of science degree and an honorary doctor of divinity degree; and
WHEREAS, notably, one of James Bond's grandchildren was Julian Bond, a Georgia state legislator who had the same passion for civil rights as did his grandfather and became a leader in the movement in the middle of the 20th Century;
NOW, THEREFORE,
Be it resolved by the Senate of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky:
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BR176200.100-1762
UNOFFICIAL COPY AS OF 02/14/05 05 REG. SESS. 05 RS BR 1762
Section 1. The Senate does hereby recognize the considerable educational accomplishments of James Bond as set forth in this Resolution and further recognizes that James Bond, until his death in 1921, worked for the betterment of society through his work educating young people and the soldiers of World War I, and through his work ensuring that the civil rights of all the citizens of not only the Commonwealth of Kentucky, but the nation, are advanced even today.
Section 2. The Senate furthermore holds James Bond forth to all the citizens of the Commonwealth as an example of the good works that can be achieved over a lifetime of hard work to better mankind and to express the will of God on Earth.
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BR176200.100-1762