Things to do and see in Atlanta

Click on the following link for the custom link for the reunion to print off a Savings in the City card to be used during your trip to Atlanta for the reunion for discounts and special offers at attractions, restaurants, and more.

http://www.atlantameetings.com/savings/index.aspx?meetingNum=142956&accountNum=00160784

Stone Mountain Park is where we will be having the family fun day on Saturday, June 25^th.  These are some of the activities and attractions that you might want to explore.

http://www.stonemountainpark.com/activities/attractions

Georgia Aquarium is an entertaining, intriguing and educational experience for guests of all ages. While promoting a fun and enjoyable learning experience, the Aquarium instills in its guests a new appreciation for the world’s aquatic biodiversity.

https://www.georgiaaquarium.org/

 Inside CNN Studio Tour

Inside CNN Atlanta offers a once-in-a-lifetime view of the global headquarters of CNN.

Take the Inside CNN VIP Tour for an exclusive behind-the-scenes experience with expanded access to the working studios at the Global Headquarters of CNN Worldwide!

http://www.cnn.com/tour/

The World of Coca-Cola is the only place where you can experience the fascinating story of the world’s best-known beverage brand in a dynamic, multimedia attraction.  Take advantage of the general information below to help you plan your visit.

https://www.worldofcoca-cola.com/

Experience Zoo Atlanta

Don’t just see the Zoo. Do the Zoo! We offer a day full of ways to take your Zoo experience to the next level. There’s something for everyone to experience – see below for details.

http://www.zooatlanta.org/#u-zraN

Itinerary for the Reunion

Thursday, July 17th

Welcome Reception

7pm-9pm
The Wyoming
2022 Columbia Rd NW
Family to meet in the Parlor

Friday, July 18th

Explore D.C. on your own. More information for various city tours to come. Please visit Things to do and see at the top of the blog.

The Capitol Steps

An American political satire group that has been performing since 1981. This will be an evening show.

Price: $35 due by May 20th
Time 7:30pm. Pease arrive early at will call so that John can pass out the tickets.
1300 Pennsylvania Ave NW

Saturday, July 19th

Conversation with Lonnie Bunch – he will be speaking with the family about the building of the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture that J. Max Bond Jr. designed.
10am – 12pm
The Wyoming
2022 Columbia Rd NW
Family to meet in the Parlor

Explore D.C. on your own.

Banquet
6pm – 10pm
Price: Adult $55
Child $20
Adult price will increase by $10 if paid after May 20th.
The Thurgood Marshall Center
1816 12th St NW

Looking for a Photographer

Hi Family!

We’ve decided it would be nice to take a family photograph during the reunion. Does anyone have photography experience that would like to volunteer for taking the photo? Please let us know ASAP!

Also, we’ve received quite a few questions about the attire for the banquet. Please come dressed business casual since we are going to be filmed for the Traveling While Black documentary.

Only two more days!!!

 

Get Ready for the 2nd Annual Bid Whist Tournament

Howard Bond & Carlton Odim

Attention All Bid Whist Players!! We will be having our second annual Otis L. Hairston, Jr. Bid Whist tournament at the Bond Family Reunion. Last year Carlton Odim and Howard Bond defeated Wanda and Monica Belle in the finals. Will they be able to defend their title this year? Stay tuned for more details and a sign up sheet will be available at the reunion.

Traveling While Black – We Need Your Story

TRAVELING WHILE BLACK – WE NEED YOUR STORY

As you know, the Bond Family has developed a relationship with Washington’s world-renowned Smithsonian Institution to help them create a multi-media presentation for the new African-American museum now under construction here in Washington.
Oscar-winning film-maker Roger Williams, director of God Loves Uganda and Music by Prudence will direct the film component of “Traveling while Black,” a multi-media project that will provoke thought, shift the perceptions of audience members, while simultaneously addressing contemporary social justice issues and the harsh realities of the United States’ recent past.
These personal travel stories – sad and funny – of coping and strategy will serve as the backbone for the film.
If you have a story to tell, and agree to be filmed, we urge you to drop by the Thurgood Marshall Center (1816 12th St NW, Washington, DC, where the banquet will be held) on Saturday, July 19, between 3 and 6PM before the Banquet begins. Please come!
This is important not just for our family’s history, but also for the nation’s.

Map of Reunion Activities

Here is a map of the hotel and reunion events we have planned. We thought it would be good for you to print out, or easily refer to during the reunion. 

I have no idea how he did it but many thanks to John White for putting this together!!

 

D.C. Civil Rights Exhibits to See While You’re Here

Here are three “civil rights” related exhibits available at the Library of Congress and the Newseum. The Library of Congress is free; the Newseum is not.
See below!

At the Library of Congress now (free):

1. A Day Like No Other: Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington

Now–August 30, 2014

This exhibition transports visitors to the momentous day of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, August 28, 1963—a day that transformed our nation—when 250,000 people from all walks of life participated in the largest non-violent demonstration for civil rights that Americans had ever witnessed.

Exhibition Location
Graphic Arts Galleries, Ground Floor, Thomas Jefferson Building

At the Newseum now (not free):

“1964: Civil Rights at 50”
On display through 2014

2. Make Some Noise

“Make Some Noise” explores the new generation of student leaders of the civil rights movement who exercised their First Amendment rights and fought segregation in the early 1960s.

“1964: Civil Rights at 50” is a yearlong exhibit that chronicles the EVENTS of a dramatic year in the civil rights movement, including Freedom Summer, “Mississippi Burning” and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Explore an exclusive collection of photographs by photojournalist Ted Polumbaum, who captured powerful images of Freedom Summer, a bold campaign organized by civil rights groups in 1964 to REGISTER black voters in Mississippi. From volunteer training sessions to clashes with segregationists, Polumbaum’s photos reveal the passion for social justice that led him to Mississippi in the summer of 1964. The Polumbaum photographs are part of

more than 200,000 of his images donated to the Newseum’s permanent collection by his widow, Nyna Brael Polumbaum in 2003.

Media Coverage

3. Civil Rights at 50

“Civil Rights at 50,” a three-year changing exhibit, chronicles milestones in the civil rights movement from 1963, 1964 and 1965 through historic front pages, magazines and news images.

In time for the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, the Newseum will open “Make Some Noise: Students and the Civil Rights Movement,” an exhibit that explores the new generation of student leaders in the early 1960s who fought segregation by making their voices heard and exercising their First Amendment rights.

The exhibit will feature a section of the original F.W. Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., where in 1960 four African-American college students launched the sit-in movement by refusing to leave their counter stools after being denied service in the whites-only section.

“Make Some Noise” will spotlight key figures in the student civil rights movement, including John Lewis, now a U.S. representative from Georgia, and Julian Bond, who later became chairman of the NAACP. Through the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the young activists took direct action to end segregation and break down racial barriers in voting rights, EDUCATION and the workplace by organizing sit-ins, marches and voter registration drives.

The exhibit also will feature a bronze casting of the Birmingham, Ala., jail cell door behind which civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. penned his famous “Letter From Birmingham Jail” in 1963.

In addition to “Make Some Noise,” the Newseum will launch a three-year changing exhibit, “Civil Rights at 50,” which will be updated each year to chronicle milestones in the civil rights movement from 1963, 1964 and 1965 through historic front pages, magazines and news images. “Civil Rights at 50” will be on display through 2015.

Building on our popular civil rights movement classes, the Making a Change learning module, launching Aug. 30, 2013, uses the Newseum’s expertise to present a fresh, unique perspective on this topic by examining the role of the press and the First Amendment throughout the movement.

This free resource on the Newseum’s Digital Classroom will explore the civil rights movement through the lenses of historical connections, media literacy and civics & citizenship. Videos, primary source news footage and interviews, archival photographs, historical newspapers and multimedia interactives will bring the content to life and standards-aligned lesson plans will help teachers reach their learning goals.

Banquet and Traveling While Black Presentation

Dear Bond Family:

I hope you are getting ready for the Bond Family Reunion! I am writing with some questions only you can answer to ensure that the Saturday night July 19th dinner at the Thurgood Marshall Center will be a great success.

As you know, we have arranged for Roger Ross Williams, an Oscar-Winning African-American documentarian, to film and interview some Bonds for the Smithsonian’s “Traveling While Black” presentation. We want members of the Bond family who can tell an interesting story of some event that happened to them while they were “Traveling While Black,” which is something all of us have done. You had to do it to get to Washington.

For example, my brother James and I were driving from Atlanta to Oxford, Ohio in 1964 and stopped for gas in a small North Georgia town. We were in James’ red Volkswagen and had parked near another red Volkswagen nearby with two white men parked next to it. As we were about to pull away, I heard one of the men say “That “N-Word” has got a car just like yours! Let’s get him!” And they jumped in their car and chased after us. They must have chased us for 15 minutes but our car was newer and faster and we luckily left them behind. Who knows what would have happened if their car was faster than ours?

People of color have had many experiences while traveling, some tragic, some funny – if you have such a story, please come to the dinner prepared to share it with us – and the camera.

Additionally, we want you to come to the dinner with memorabilia, photographs, and visuals.

Who else among us has had a “Traveling While Black” experience and wants to share it with our audience? And who among us had that experience, and is a great story-teller? If you know a great Bond storyteller and you know he or she has a great “traveling” story, tell us who it is. We can’t interview every family member, but we do want to get the best story from the best story-teller.

Send me your name and email – mine is – Julian_Bond@msn.com – and tell me your story. Our deadline is July 1st!

Julian Bond

Traveling While Black

Family,

During our banquet, we are elated to have Roger Ross Williams – the first African American to win an Oscar for directing and producing a film in 2010 for Music by Prudence – meet and involve us in his project, Traveling While Black.

Please visit travelingwhileblack.org for information about the project and watch the trailer. You just might see a familiar face ; )

Roger Ross Williams

 

“The Civil Rights Act of 1964: The long Struggle for Freedom”

Hi Family,

Following is a letter I received from cousin Julian about “The Civil Rights Act of 1964: The Long Struggle for Freedom” Exhibit. If you have the opportunity while you are here for the reunion to check it out, I am sure you will find it informative and edifying. Please read below.

May 13, 2014

Press contact: Donna Urschel (202) 707-1639, durschel@loc.gov

More Than 200 Items Featured in Library of Congress Exhibition
“The Civil Rights Act of 1964: The Long Struggle for Freedom”

Exhibition Opens on Act’s Date of Passage 50 Years Ago, June 19

​The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. It banned discrimination in public accommodations, such as hotels, restaurants, theaters and retail stores. It outlawed segregation in public education. It guaranteed equal job opportunities, and it ended unequal application of voter registration requirements. The act was a landmark piece of legislation that opened the doors to further progress in the acquisition and protection of civil rights.
​The Library of Congress exhibition “The Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle for Freedom” opens on Thursday, June 19, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the bill’s passage in the U.S. Congress and its signing into law. The exhibition highlights the legal and legislative struggles and victories, and it sheds light on the individuals—well-known and ordinary—who participated in the decades-long campaign for equality.
​Located in the Southwest Gallery on the second level of the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. S.E., Washington, D.C., the exhibition will be free and open to the public Monday through Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. It closes on June 20, 2015.
​The exhibition will feature more than 200 items, including correspondence and documents from civil rights leaders and organizations, photographs, newspapers, legal briefs, drawings and posters. The materials are drawn primarily from the NAACP Records in the Library’s Manuscript Division and Prints and Photographs Division. In addition, audiovisual stations throughout the gallery will feature audio clips and film footage from the Library’s American Folklife Center’s Civil Rights History Project and the Motion Picture, Broadcast and Recorded Sound Division.
​The exhibition will include two videos produced by HISTORY®. One will be an introductory film, explaining the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and its significance. It will be narrated by Julian Bond, professor, politician and leader in the Civil Rights Movement. The second film will focus on the impact of the Civil Rights Act and will feature interviews with Taylor Branch, author and historian; U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg; U.S. Rep. John Lewis, leader in the Civil Rights Movement; and Risa Goluboff, professor of law at the University of Virginia.
​“The Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle for Freedom” is made possible by a generous grant from Newman’s Own Foundation, in addition to the support from HISTORY.
​There are six thematic sections in the exhibition: Prologue, Segregation Era, World War II and the Post-War Years, Civil Rights Era, Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Impact.​
Exhibition Highlights
​Prologue will provide a historical backdrop for the course of race relations in the United States, from the beginning of Reconstruction (1865-1877) to the first decade of the 20th century. This section explains steps taken to grant newly freed African Americans basic civil and political rights, as well as the actions taken after Reconstruction to roll back those rights. Highlights include a lithograph of the first African American senators and representatives in the 41st and 42nd Congress of the United States; Plessy v. Ferguson, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld segregation with “separate but equal”; and Booker T. Washington’s 1895 Atlanta Exposition Speech that addresses race relations.
​Segregation Era explores the founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) by a group of black and white activists in 1909. The section also examines the escalation of racial violence. Interesting artifacts include the lynching flag flown at the headquarters of NAACP in New York City whenever an African American was lynched; a sign from a Texas restaurant that read “No Dogs, Negroes, Mexicans”; the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters agreement with the Pullman Company; and a letter from Eleanor Roosevelt to NAACP’s Walter Francis White detailing the First Lady’s lobbying efforts for federal action against lynchings.
​World War II and the Post-War Years delves into civil rights initiatives, minorities in the military and the founding of civil rights organizations from 1940 to 1949. The section will feature the Fair Employment Practices Committee, which President Franklin Roosevelt established during this period. Highlights on display include a letter written by Jackie Robinson to his college friend on breaking the color barrier in professional baseball; the Bayard Rustin and George M. Houser report on the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation, the first Freedom Ride conducted to test enforcement of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Morgan v Virginia banning segregation in interstate travel; a photograph of the Journey of Reconciliation participants; and President Harry Truman’s two 1948 executive orders banning discrimination in federal employment and in the armed forces.
​The Civil Rights Era focuses on the events and achievements of well-known and ordinary people from 1950 to 1963. Pivotal events include the March on Washington, the Mississippi Freedom Summer and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Highlights include U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren’s reading copy of the Brown v. Board of Education opinion, Rosa Parks’ arrest record from the day she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger; a telegram from Paul Robeson to A. Philip Randolph regarding the murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till, and speeches by John Lewis and Martin Luther King written for the March on Washington. Also in this section, a wide variety of civil rights-inspired songs—gospel, folk, jazz, rock and pop—will be heard.
​The Civil Rights Act of 1964 examines the culmination of efforts from private citizens, organizations, Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, and the House and Senate leadership of the U.S. Congress. After eight months of congressional debate, the bill passed in the U.S. Senate on June 19, 1964. The House voted to adopt the Senate-passed bill on July 2, and that same day President Johnson signed the bill into law. Highlights include Johnson’s draft remarks delivered when he signed the bill, and a number of letters between NAACP officials Clarence Mitchell and Roy Wilkins concerning the legislative progress of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
​The Impact section explores how the passage of the act lent the power of the federal government to the ongoing struggle for a more just and inclusive American society. It also looks at the shortcomings for some of the goals of civil rights activists and how further grassroots mobilization, judicial precedent and legislative action were needed to guarantee civil rights for all.
​The Library of Congress on Wednesday, May 14, will start a series of weekly blogs about the exhibition, at http://www.loc.gov/blogs/.
​The Library of Congress, the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution and the largest library in the world, holds more than 158 million items in various languages, disciplines and formats. The Library serves the U.S. Congress and the nation both on-site in its reading rooms on Capitol Hill and through its award-winning website at http://www.loc.gov.