The Educator and the Librarian II: Horace Mann Bond and Julia Agnes Washington Bond

Julia Agnes Washington Bond (1908-2007), a 1929 graduate of Fisk University, was a librarian at both Atlanta University's Robert W. Woodruff Library and Trevor Arnett Library (Atlanta University is now Clark-Atlanta University). Mrs. Bond received her library science degree from the Atlanta University Library School when she was 56 years old.  She was the mother of former Georgia state representative and NAACP chairman Julian Bond (born Horace Julian Bond), and the wife of noted educator Horace Mann Bond (1904-1972).

A native of Nashville, Tennessee, Mrs. Bond was born June 20, 1908 to George Elihu and Daisy Agnes Turner Washington. Both of her parents were educators and were alumni of Fisk University. After graduating from Pearl High School in 1924, she studied English at Fisk University. In 1929, Mrs. Bond received her bachelor's degree in English and married Horace Mann Bond, a professor she met while attending Fisk.

In 1945, her husband became the first African American to serve as president of Lincoln University of Pennsylvania, a historically black college in Lincoln University, Pennsylvania (near Oxford, Pennsylvania). Mr. Bond was a 1923 graduate of the university (he was born in 1904 in Nashville, Tennessee; his parents were alumni of Oberlin College, in Oberlin, Ohio). Mr. Bond also attended the University of Chicago where he received both his master's and doctorate degrees.

Before serving as president of Lincoln University of Pennsylvania, Mr. Bond taught at Langston University in Langston, Oklahoma; was the first dean of Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana; and served as president of Fort Valley State College for Negroes in Fort Valley, Georgia (the college is now Fort Valley State University). 

In 1957, Mr. Bond became dean of the School of Education at Atlanta University. Mr. Bond remained at Atlanta University until his retirement in 1971. He passed away on December 21, 1972.

Mrs. Bond continued working as a librarian at Atlanta University until she retired at the age of 92 in 2000. She died on November 2, 2007 at the age of 99 and is buried at South View Cemetery in Atlanta, Georgia.


*Notes:
During the mid-1930s, Julia Agnes Washington Bond and her husband co-wrote "The Star Creek Papers", which documented the life of African Americans in Washington Parish, Louisiana. It was finally published by the University of Georgia Press in 1997 (a later edition was published in 2011). 

 The Atlanta University Library School was founded in 1941. Eliza Atkins Gleason, the first African American to receive a PhD in library science was the school's first dean. Atlanta University merged with Clark College to become Clark-Atlanta University on July 1, 1988. The library school at Clark-Atlanta University closed in 2005.

Atlanta University's Robert W. Woodruff Library, where Mrs. Bond worked, houses the personal African American history collection of Henry Proctor Slaughter (1871-1958). Mr. Slaughter served as the compositor for the United States Government Printing Office from 1896 to 1937. In addition, he was a bibliophile, collector of African American history, and newspaper editor. To learn more about Henry Proctor Slaughter, see the following post:

Henry Proctor Slaughter: Compositor for the United States Government Printing Office, Bibliophile, Collector, and Newspaper Editor.

Update 02/06/2013:

YouTube has an episode of the 1950's CBS news program "Longines Chronoscope" in which Horace Mann Bond and Rufus E. Clement discuss racial segregation of colleges and universities in the United States. Click the link below to watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeXXg4w-uFQ

At the time of this news program, Rufus E. Clement was the president of Atlanta University and Horace Mann Bond was the president of Lincoln University of Pennsylvania.

Update 08/16/2015:

Julian Bond (1940-2015), the couple's son, passed away on Saturday, August 15, 2015.  Born Horace Julian Bond, Julian Bond once served as chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), was a co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, served in the Georgia Legislature, worked with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and was a graduate of Morehouse College. News of Julian Bond's death appeared in the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/17/us/julian-bond-former-naacp-chairman-and-civil-rights-leader-dies-at-75.html

See related posts: Librarian Education: Eliza Atkins Gleason, 1st African American to Earn PhD in Library Science. ; The Educator and the Librarian: Dr. Charles E. Rochelle and Thelma N. Rochelle

Sources: Jordan, Casper Leroy. "Georgia Peaches and Cream: Afro-American Librarians in the State of Georgia." Ed. Annette L. Phinazee. The Black Librarian in the Southeast: Reminiscences, Activities, Challenges. Durham: NCCU School of Library Service, 1980. 34. Print. ; "Julia Agnes Washington Bond, Librarian, Educator, Administrator Dies at 99." The Black Commentator 252 (2007): n. pag. Web. 6 Oct. 2010. ; "Julia Agnes Washington Bond, 99; Mother of Civil Rights Leader Julian Bond." LA Times. LA Times, 7 Nov. 2007. Web. 6 Oct. 2010. ; "NAACP Mourns Loss of Julia Washington Bond." NAACP Press Room. NAACP, 31 Dec. 2007. Web. 6 Oct. 2010. ; "Julia Bond Biography." The History Makers. The History Makers, 14 Oct. 2006. Web. 6 Oct. 2010. ; "Died." Jet 112.23 (2007): 57. Print. ; "Educator Horace Mann Bond Dies in Ga. Nursing Home." Jet 43.16 (1973): 9. Print. ; "Obituaries in the News." USA Today (Online). USA Today, 6 Nov. 2007. Web. 2 Feb. 2013. ; "Julian Bond's Mother Helped Husband in Career: Julia Agnes Washington Bond." Sarasota Herald-Tribune 7 Nov. 2007: 8B. Print. ; Huff, Christopher Allen. "Horace Mann Bond (1904-1972)." New Georgia Encyclopedia. Georgia Humanities Council and the University of Georgia Press, 1 June 2007. Web. 2 Feb. 2013. ; White, Claytee D. "Bond, Horace Mann (1904-1972)." BlackPast.org. BlackPast.org, n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2013. ;  Freightman, Connie Green. "Historically Black College Closes Its Library Studies Program." The Crisis 112.1 (2005): 10. Print. ; Adams, Luther. "Bond, Horace Julian (1940-)." BlackPast.org. BlackPast.org, n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2013. ; "Other Deaths." Denver Post.com. The Denver Post, 6 Nov. 2007. Web. 2 Feb. 2013. ; Hound, Catahoula. "Julia Agnes Washington Bond." Find A Grave. FindAGrave.com, 18 Sept. 2012. Web. 2 Feb. 2013. ; Reed, Roy. "Julian Bond, Former N.A.A.C.P Chairman and Civil Rights Leader, Dies at 75." New York Times (Online). New York Times, 15 Aug. 2015. Web. 16 Aug. 2015.

Librarian Education: Eliza Atkins Gleason, First African American to Earn PhD in Library Science

Eliza Atkins Gleason, an alumna of Fisk University, became the first dean of the library school at Atlanta University (now Clark-Atlanta University) in 1941. She was also the first African American to earn a PhD in library science, which she earned from the University of Chicago in 1940 (her dissertation was published in 1941 as the book, The Southern Negro and the Public Library). Before coming to Atlanta University, Ms. Gleason was a librarian at Fisk University and at the Louisville Municipal College for Negroes (now Simmons College of Kentucky), and served as library director at Talladega College (Alabama) from 1940-1941.

A native of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Ms. Gleason was born December 15, 1909 to Simon Green Atkins and Oleona Pegram Atkins. Both of Ms. Gleason's parents were educators (her mother was an alumna of Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee; her father an alumnus of St. Augustine's College in Raleigh, North Carolina). Winston-Salem State University was founded by Ms. Gleason's father in 1892 (the school was formerly known as Slater Industrial Academy).

After graduating high school, Ms. Gleason attended Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. She graduated in 1930. A year later, she received her Bachelor of Library Science (BLS) from the University of Illinois. In 1935, she received a master's degree in library science from the University of California-Berkley. In 1937, she became the wife of Dr. Maurice Gleason.

Ms. Gleason was appointed dean of the Atlanta University Library School in 1941. She remained at the Atlanta University Library School until 1946. After leaving Atlanta, Georgia, she relocated to Chicago, Illinois and worked at Chicago Teachers College, Woodrow Wilson Junior College, Illinois Teachers College, John Crerar Library, Illinois Institute of Technology, and the Chicago Public Library. Ms. Gleason also was a guest lecturer at the University of Chicago and a library science professor at Northern Illinois University.

After many years of service in the library profession, Ms. Gleason passed away at the age of 100 on December 15, 2009 in Louisville, Kentucky. In 2010, she was inducted into the University of Louisville College of Arts and Sciences Hall of Honor.  The Eliza Atkins Gleason Book Award is named in her honor and is given by the American Library Association's Library History Round Table to recognize books written on the subject of library history.

*Notes:

Ms. Gleason was not the only librarian in her family. Her sister, Ollie Atkins Carpenter, was a 1927 graduate of the Hampton Institute Library School in Hampton,Virginia (Hampton Institute is now Hampton University). Ms. Carpenter was also the library school's first graduate to work in Kentucky when she became librarian at the Louisville Municipal College for Negroes. In addition, Ms. Carpenter was also a librarian at Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama (the school is now Tuskegee University); at Summer High School in St. Louis, Missouri; and at the University of Maryland.

On YouTube, there is a video of Eliza Atkins Gleason's induction into the University of Louisville College of Arts and Sciences Hall of Honor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2uEwkNiR60 .

Established in 1941, the library school at Atlanta University (now Clark-Atlanta University) remained in operation for 64 years before closing its doors in 2005.

Update 02/03/2013:

Legacy.com has a copy of Ms. Gleason's obituary from The Winston-Salem Journal: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/winstonsalem/obituary.aspx?pid=137723460#fbLoggedOut


See related posts: Virginia Lacy Jones: Second African American to Earn PhD in Library Science and Annette Hoage Phinazee: Dean, Professor, Author, and Librarian.

Sources: Woodson, Almeta Gould. "Fifty Years of Service: A Chronological History of the School of Library Service Atlanta University, 1941-1979; the School of Library and Information Studies Atlanta University, 1979-1989; the School of Library and Information Studies, Clark Atlanta University, 1989-1991." Georgia Librarian 28.3 (1991):71-72, 78. Print. ; Jordan, Casper and E.J. Josey. "A Chronology of Events in Black Librarianship." Handbook of Black Librarianship. Ed. E.J. Josey and Marva L. DeLoach. 2nd ed. Lanham: Scarecrow, 2000. 7. Print. ; Dawson, Alma. "Celebrating African American Librarians and Librarianship." Library Trends 49.1 (2000): 58. Print. ; Totten, Herman L. "Southeastern Black Educators." The Black Librarian in the Southeast: Reminiscences, Activities, Challenges. Ed. Annette L. Phinazee. Durham: NCCU School of Library Science, 1980. 202. Print. ; "Eliza Atkins Gleason." Courier Journal (Louisville, Ky.). Courier Journal (Louisville, Ky.), 21 Dec. 2009. Web. 5 Jan. 2011. ; Freightman, Connie Green. "Historically Black College Closes its Library Studies Program." Crisis 112.1 (2005): 10. Print. ; A Directory of Negro Graduates of Accredited Library Schools, 1900-1936. Washington: Columbia Civic Library Association, 1937. 6, 8. Print. ; "Eliza Atkins Gleason." College of Arts and Sciences, Hall of Honor. University of Louisville, n.d. Web. 1. Feb. 2011. ; "Death Notice: Eliza Atkins Gleason." Chicago Tribune News(Online). Chicago Tribune News, 25 Jan. 2010. Web. 2 Feb. 2013. ; Jones, Reinette F. Library Service to African Americans in Kentucky, from the Reconstruction Era to the 1960s. Jefferson: McFarland, 2002. 32, 82, 84, 90, 94-95, 161, 163. Print. ; DeLoach, Marva L. "Black Academic Libraries." Handbook of Black Librarianship. Ed. E.J. Josey and Marva L. DeLoach. 2nd ed. Lanham: Scarecrow, 2000. 413, 419. Print. ; "Eliza Atkins Gleason Book Award." American Library Association. American Library Association, 2013. Web. 3 Feb. 2013. ; Josey, E.J. "Gleason, Eliza Atkins." World Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences. Ed. Robert Wedgeworth. 3rd ed. Chicago: American Library Association, 1993. 325-326. Print. ; "Atlanta University." The Crisis 48.5(1941): 148. Print. ; Freightman, Connie Green. "Historically Black College Closes Its Library Studies Program." The Crisis 112.1 (2005): 10. Print. ; "Gleason, Eliza Valeria Atkins." Biographical Dictionary of Modern American Educators. Ed.  Frederik Ohles, Shirley M. Ohles, and John G. Ramsay. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1997. 132-133.Print.