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youth could strike a blow against the system that had thwarted our parents' hopes and dreams.

That introduced me to the movement for justice that has been my life from that day to this - and I have tried to fight for justice by offering my body and by offering my mind.

In this role I follow Kilson's dictate - I try to challenge the discrepancy between opportunity and denial.

I come to this naturally - on the wall in my home is a photograph of myself, my sister, and Drs. DuBois, E. Franklin Frazier, and my father, Dr. Horace Mann Bond.

The three men are dressed an academic regalia, in hoods and gowns. My sister and I are three^four and four ^three. In is 1943.

Accompanying the photograph is a certificate, signed by these three, witnessed by my mother.

In somewhat flowery language, the three men dedicate me to be a.................................................. Following the gender imperatives of the day, they dedicate my sister to be "the mother of....................."

With that pedigree, the life I've lived has been inescapable.^{was preordained.}

I grew up in a home of educated parents - my mother a grade school teacher and later a librarian, my father a college dean and president. Their home was filled with books and newspaper^s, and their visitors on the college campuses where we lived were a who's who of black America - Paul Robeson, Walter White, African dignitaries - an almost daily parade of impressive figures, race men and women who had dedicated their professional and private lives to fighting for justice and fair play.

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