Over the past 14 years, University of Virginia professors Julian Bond and Phyllis Leffler recorded 51 video interviews with African American leaders. The collaboration has produced the new book Black Leaders on Leadership: Conversations With Julian Bond (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014).
“Black leaders’ stories are narratives of hardship, determination and success situated in local communities and national culture,” notes Professor Bond. “This is ultimately an exploration of African-American leadership in America through the eyes and words of the leaders themselves.”
The University of Virginia has set up a companion website for the book that includes the full video interviews with all 51 individuals who are included in the book. Among the people interviewed are Dorothy Height, Robert Moses, Douglas Wilder, Vernon Jordan, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Johnnetta Cole, and Geoffrey Canada.
Professor Leffler states that “the stories of a cross-section of African-American leaders will inspire both black and non-black audiences to think about the kind of America they want to live in. Most are exemplars of strength, dedication, determination. This project – and the book – bring together their personal and public lives, often for the first time.”
