Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Honors Hubert H. Humphrey Civil Rights Awardees for 2005
Julian Bond, Chairman of the NAACP; Ginny Thornburgh, director of the Religion and Disability Program of the National Organization on Disability; and Senator Tom Daschle were honored on May 4 at the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights' annual Hubert H. Humphrey Civil Rights Award Dinner.
"This year's honorees have made extraordinary contributions to the advancement of civil rights," said Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) Executive Director Wade Henderson. "Each has helped our nation make great and lasting strides on our journey toward equality. It is particularly fitting that they receive the Humphrey Award, which is the civil rights community's highest honor."
Julian Bond's civil rights career has spanned more than 40 years. As a student at Morehouse College, Bond led peaceful protests that culminated in the integration of movie theaters, lunch counters and public parks in Atlanta. In 1960, he helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and later became its communications director, responsible for its printing and publicity departments and editing the SNCC newsletter, The Student Voice. Bond was also active in protests and registration campaigns throughout the South.
Turning his attention to elective politics, Bond was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1965, but was prevented from taking his seat because of his opposition to the Vietnam War. Bond was elected two more times, but was seated only after the U.S Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the Georgia House had violated Bond's rights in refusing him his seat.
In 1974, Bond was elected to the Georgia Senate. When he left the state senate in January 1987, Bond
had been elected to public office more times than any other black Georgian in history.
In 1995, Bond was elected to his fourth term on the National Board of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Bond has served as chairman of the NAACP since his election in February 1998.
Ginny Thornburgh, who founded and directs the Religion and Disability Program of the National Organization on Disability (NOD), has worked for years to make congregations from every faith more inclusive for people with disabilities.
The Religion and Disability Program cooperates with local congregations, national faith groups, and seminaries to remove barriers of architecture, communications, and attitudes that prevent people with disabilities from full and active religious participation.
Thornburgh travels around the country, visiting congregations and suggesting changes that would make them more accessible to individuals with disabilities.
In 1998, NOD launched the Accessible Congregations Campaign, with an initial goal of enrolling 2,000 congregations of all faiths that commit to removing their barriers and welcoming people with all types of disabilities. That goal was achieved on May 3, 2001 when the name of the 2,000th congregation was announced at a Washington, DC press conference.
Thornburgh and her husband, former U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, are the parents of a son with a developmental disability. Their son, Peter, who now lives and works in Harrisburg, PA, has served as an inspiration for their efforts to maximize opportunities for persons with disabilities in America's communities, workplaces, schools, and congregations.
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Honors Hubert H. Humphrey Civil Rights Awardees for 2005
Julian Bond, Chairman of the NAACP; Ginny Thornburgh, director of the Religion and Disability Program of the National Organization on Disability; and Senator Tom Daschle were honored on May 4 at the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights' annual Hubert H. Humphrey Civil Rights Award Dinner.
"This year's honorees have made extraordinary contributions to the advancement of civil rights," said Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) Executive Director Wade Henderson. "Each has helped our nation make great and lasting strides on our journey toward equality. It is particularly fitting that they receive the Humphrey Award, which is the civil rights community's highest honor."
Julian Bond's civil rights career has spanned more than 40 years. As a student at Morehouse College, Bond led peaceful protests that culminated in the integration of movie theaters, lunch counters and public parks in Atlanta. In 1960, he helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and later became its communications director, responsible for its printing and publicity departments and editing the SNCC newsletter, The Student Voice. Bond was also active in protests and registration campaigns throughout the South.
Turning his attention to elective politics, Bond was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1965, but was prevented from taking his seat because of his opposition to the Vietnam War. Bond was elected two more times, but was seated only after the U.S Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the Georgia House had violated Bond's rights in refusing him his seat.
In 1974, Bond was elected to the Georgia Senate. When he left the state senate in January 1987, Bond had been elected to public office more times than any other black Georgian in history.
In 1995, Bond was elected to his fourth term on the National Board of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Bond has served as chairman of the NAACP since his election in February 1998.
Ginny Thornburgh, who founded and directs the Religion and Disability Program of the National Organization on Disability (NOD), has worked for years to make congregations from every faith more inclusive for people with disabilities.
The Religion and Disability Program cooperates with local congregations, national faith groups, and seminaries to remove barriers of architecture, communications, and attitudes that prevent people with disabilities from full and active religious participation.
Thornburgh travels around the country, visiting congregations and suggesting changes that would make them more accessible to individuals with disabilities.
In 1998, NOD launched the Accessible Congregations Campaign, with an initial goal of enrolling 2,000 congregations of all faiths that commit to removing their barriers and welcoming people with all types of disabilities. That goal was achieved on May 3, 2001 when the name of the 2,000th congregation was announced at a Washington, DC press conference.
Thornburgh and her husband, former U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, are the parents of a son with a developmental disability. Their son, Peter, who now lives and works in Harrisburg, PA, has served as an inspiration for their efforts to maximize opportunities for persons with disabilities in America's communities, workplaces, schools, and congregations.
Senator Tom Daschle's political career has spanned more than 25 years. Daschle, a Democrat, was elected to Congress in 1978 from South Dakota, a largely Republican state. He was elected to the Senate in 1986, where he quickly rose through the ranks of leadership. In 1994, he was elected Democratic Leader, becoming second only to Lyndon Johnson in the rapidity of his rise from senator to party leader.
Senator Jim Jeffords' announcement in June 2001 that he was leaving the Republican Party to become an independent and would caucus with the Democrats propelled Daschle into the Majority Leader role. Democratic losses in 2002 returned the party to minority status in the Senate in January 2003, and Daschle reverted to being Minority Leader once again.
"My dream in coming to the Senate was to be an offensive quarterback," Daschle told The New York Times in a December 2004 interview following his narrow defeat for re-election, "and for the most part, I've been a defensive lineman. It's been stopping bad things from happening."
Even so, Daschle was able to build coalitions in support of affirmative action, election reform, education programs, immigrants' rights, expanded health care, and national action in favor of anti-hate crime legislation. He was also a strong advocate for legislation protecting the rights of American Indians.
Involved in politics or public service nearly his entire life, Daschle, while a student at South Dakota State University, helped organize a mock political convention, using the 1968 Democratic National Convention as a model. After serving three years as an intelligence officer in the U.S Air Force Strategic Air Command, he served as an aide to South Dakota Senator James Abourezk, before running for Congress himself.
Daschle told The New York Times that as he transitions into private life, he'd like to continue to advocate for the "issues he cares about, including the concerns of American Indians, health care, and the global AIDS crisis."
