Firing Line: “Politics and Black Progress” (1974)

William F. Buckley, Jr. (1925-2008) was an American political writer and conservative commentator. He is known for his role on the television show Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr. (1966-1999), where he hosted discussions with many notable political figures and thought leaders of the twentieth century. He founded the conservative magazine National Review in 1955 and authored over fifty books, including God and Man at Yale (1951), Up from Liberalism (1959), and Rumbles Left and Right (1963). Buckley served in the U.S. Army during World War II before attending Yale University.

Julian Bond (1940-2015) was a U.S. politician, civil rights activist, and scholar. He served four terms in the Georgia House of Representatives. Elected in 1965, he was refused a seat by the Georgia state legislature based on his endorsement of a statement made by the SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) opposing the Vietnam War. Bond was reelected and, in 1967, was sworn in after the Supreme Court ruled his exclusion unconstitutional. Bond later served six terms in the Georgia Senate. He was first president of the Southern Poverty Law Center and chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1998 to 2010.

John Lewis (1940-2020) was a U.S. politician, civil rights leader, and activist. He served seventeen terms in the United States House of Representatives for Georgia's 5th congressional district, from 1987 to 2020. Lewis was a co-founder and chairman of the SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) and was one of the thirteen original Freedom Riders. He famously delivered a speech at the historic March on Washington in 1963. In 1965, he and civil rights leader Hosea Williams led the march for voting rights from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, which came to be known as “Bloody Sunday” as marchers were attacked by state troopers and police.