Julian Bond to Speak at AAG Meeting in Tampa

The Association of American Geographers (AAG) is pleased to announce that Julian Bond, a renowned civil rights pioneer and political leader, has been named the third recipient of the AAG Atlas Award. Professor Bond will receive the award at the AAG’s next Annual Meeting in Tampa, Florida on Friday evening, April 11, 2014, where he will deliver a presentation on “Race Around the World,” focusing on how civil rights figures and organizations have shaped and changed American foreign policy. More than 8,000 geographers and others from around the world, including the media, are expected to attend the AAG meeting.

Julian Bond

Bond is the son of former college and university president Horace Mann Bond, and he has built his own record as a celebrated educator, having held appointments at several leading institutions, including American, Harvard, and the University of Virginia. He has been awarded more than 20 honorary degrees throughout his career.Julian Bond has played a central role throughout the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, as a leading figure in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and as co-founder and first president of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Bond was repeatedly elected to the Georgia General Assembly for 20 years, including six terms as a state senator. More recently, he has served as Chairman of the NAACP for 12 years, from 1998 to 2010.

Julian Bond embodies the ideals and goals of the AAG Atlas Award, which is designed to recognize and celebrate outstanding accomplishments that advance world understanding in exceptional ways. The image of Atlas bearing the weight of the world on his shoulders is a powerful metaphor for this award program, as the AAG’s awardees are those who have taken the weight of the world on their shoulders and moved it forward, whether in science, politics, scholarship, the arts, or in war and peace. In addition to a substantial cash prize, an Atlas statuette will be presented to Professor Bond as a compelling keepsake and an inspiring symbol for the award program itself. Author and scientist Jane Goodall and human rights leader Mary Robinson are the previous recipients of the AAG Atlas Award.

We invite you to join Professor Julian Bond and the AAG in Tampa to celebrate his extraordinary accomplishments and to discuss with him and others from around the world the future of civil rights and social justice. To register for the meeting, please visit www.aag.org/annualmeeting.

About the Association of American Geographers

The AAG is a scholarly and professional association representing leading researchers, educators, and practitioners in geography. Founded in 1904, its 10,000 members share interests in the theory, methods, and practice of geography, and its role in helping to create a better world. Visit www.aag.org for more information.