Longtime civil rights activist Julian Bond, who 40 years ago became the first black man to have his name put in nomination by a major U.S. political party, is in Minnesota this week.

This evening, Bond, 68, will deliver the Eugene J. McCarthy Lecture at St. John's University in Collegeville.

His lecture focuses on the 1960s civil rights and antiwar movements, memories of Minnesota Sen. Eugene McCarthy and the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, the intersection of race and politics and how the movements of the '60s are reflected in today's political landscape. The event is free and open to the public.

At age 28, Bond burst onto the national scene during the '68 convention, when his name was placed into nomination for the No. 2 spot on the Democratic ticket.

As co-chairman of the Georgia Loyal National Delegation to the convention, Bond helped the insurgent group unseat the handpicked regulars. This led to Bond being nominated for vice president. However, he withdrew his name because he was constitutionally too young to serve.

As a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Bond helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. From 1965 to 1975, he served as a Democratic member in the Georgia House for four terms. He was a strong opponent of the Vietnam War. He went on to serve six terms in the Georgia Senate from 1975-86. Bond was the first president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, and since 1998, he has served as the chairman of the board of the NAACP.

Paul Walsh