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nerve the race, as the individual, for greater efforts and grander victories."¹³

Greater efforts and grander victories. That was his generation's promise 106 years ago. That was the promise made by the generation that won the great world war for democracy five decades ago. That was the promise made by those who brought democracy to America's darkest corners three decades ago, and the promise we must seek to honor today.

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(Julian Bond is Distinguished Professor in Residence in the School of Government at the American University of Washington, D. C., and a Professor of History at the University of Virginia. In February, 1998, he was elected Chair of the NAACP Board of Directors.)

1. A 1993 black leadership study conducted by Brakeley, John Price Jones, Inc. showed 74% of all blacks believed the NAACP is the leader among all groups with civil rights, social justice and race relations agendas. In this study, 75% of all respondents believed the NAACP adequatly represented the black community. An October, 1995 US News & World Report poll reported 90% of all blacks supported the NAACP. In an April, 1998 poll conducted for the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, 81% of blacks reported a favorable opinion of the NAACP.

2. "Address of Rev. James Bond," Berea Quarterly, February, 1901.

3. W. E. B. DuBois in The Voice of the Negro, (Atlanta), September, 2005.

4. "Ethnic Images," National Opinion Research Center, University of Chicago, GSS Topical Report No. 19, December, 1991.

5. M. L. K. Jr. Address before the Constitutional Convention, AFL-CIO, Bal Harbour, Florida, December 11, 1961.

6. Shapiro, Tom & Melvin Oliver, Black Wealth, White Wealth: A New Perspective on Racial Inequality.

7. Ezorsky, Gertrude, Racism and Justice: the Case for Affirmative Action, Cornell University Press, p 64 (1991).