Contact Union

402.486.2600
ucinfo@ucollege.edu

3800 S. 48th St.
Lincoln, NE 68506 USA

Enrollment Services

402.486.2504
enroll@ucollege.edu
Admissions homepage

Alumni/Giving

402.486.2503
alumni@ucollege.edu
Advancement homepage

Personnel directory
×
×

background trapezoid Union College Union College | Finding purpose. Unlocking potential.
Union College – Experience the Spirit

About
  • About Union College
    • About Seventh-day Adventists
    • Accreditation
    • College Symbols
    • Consumer Information
    • Employment
    • Employee Resources (login)
    • Mission and Vision
  • Connect with Union
    • News from Union College
    • Contact Us

  • College Leadership
    • Board of Trustees
    • Employee Directory
  • Lincoln, Nebraska, a great place to learn
    • things to do |
    • places to eat |
    • where to stay


Thumbnail of an illustration of campus. Campus map
  • Google Maps
  • Map with accessibility features
Academics
  • Find majors and programs
  • Academic Support
    • Computer labs
    • Library
    • Records Office
    • Studio for Writing and Speaking
  • Information and resources
    • Academic bulletin
    • Academic calendar
    • Canvas
    • Class schedules
    • Final exam schedules
    • Accommodations and accessibility
    • Graduation information
    • Transcript request
  • Student Success
    • Academic and life coaching
    • Disability information and access
    • Career services
    • Tutoring
  • Professional Excellence Program
Alumni
Stay connected to Union
    • Join us for Homecoming!
      • April 7-10, 2022
    • News from Union College
    • Read CORDmagazine
    • Watch live events
    • Find event photos on Facebook
    • Update your info and share news
    • Read Pastor David Kabanje's daily devotionals
  • Advancement Office
  • Ways to give
    • Give online
    • Planned giving
    • More giving opportunities
  • Request transcripts
    (via Parchment)
  • Explore our history
    • Clocktower archive (1927-2010)
    • Educational Messenger (1905-1926)
    • Library photo collections
Campus Life
  • Student Life Office
    • About the Student Life Office
    • Residence Halls
    • Campus apartments
    • Find clubs on uGroups

  • Athletics
    • Varsity calendar
    • High school tournaments
  • Campus Ministries
    • Upcoming events
    • Good Morning Union
    • International Volunteers and Taskforce
    • Project Impact
    • Watch worship services on uTV
  • Services for campus
    • Campus Health
    • Campus Safety
    • Campus Store
    • Information Systems
    • Integrated Marketing Communications
    • Library
    • Student Employment
    • Plant Services
    • Accessibility Services
    • Union Market
Community
  • Services for our community
    • George Stone Elementary School
    • Guest Services at the Ortner Center
      • Guest rooms
      • Meeting spaces
      • Reservations
    • Union Market Dining Services
  •  
    • Larson Lifestyle Center
      • Become a member
      • Facility rental and parties
      • Swimming lessons
    • Library
      • Lincoln-Lancaster County Genealogical Society
  • Events for our community
    • Athletics
      • Athletic calendar
    • Arts and performance calendar
Parents
  • Prospective parent links
    • Why Union students succeed
    • Finding a calling: read examples
    • Financing a Christian education
      • Scholarships and financial aid
      • Tuition
      • Financial FAQ
      • Financial checklist
      • Financial aid forms
      • Contact Student Financial Services
    • Help plan a campus visit
    • Learn about Lincoln, Nebraska
  • Current parent links
    • Services for parents
      • Order a Party Pack
      • Order LifeSavors
      • Make a payment online
    • Events
      • Parents Weekend (Sept. 23-25, 2022)
      • Graduation (May 5-7, 2023)
      • Watch uTV
      • See photos on Facebook
Thumbnail of the Boones. Watch: parents share how Union helped their daughter find her calling.
Thumbnail of Pastor Rich Carlson. Watch: the 5 biggest decisions in life.
Prospective Students
  • Admissions Office
    • Apply online
    • Union's guarantee
    • Plan your campus visit

  • Financial information
    • Scholarships
    • Costs
    • Financial FAQ
    • Net price calculator
    • Financial aid forms
    • Student Financial Services
  • Learn more about Union
    • Academic and life coaching
    • Residence Halls
    • See our majors and programs
    • Interactive campus map
    • Follow us on Instagram

  • Checklists
    • After you're accepted
    • Financial clearance
    • International students
    • Transfer students
Thumbnail of Mary with play button. Union inspired Mary to excel in nursing and gain spiritual confidence.
Thumbnail of Joslyn with a play button. When a letter arrived from a little Nebraska college, Joslyn heard God calling.
October 23, 2015

Civil rights activist to speak for inaugural George Gibson Lecture Series event

Civil rights activist Bob Zellner will speak for the inaugural George Gibson Lecture Series event on Nov. 4.

To Bob Zellner, the American civil rights movement is far more than something you read in history books, read in the newspaper, or watched on TV. This Alabama-born son of a former Ku Klux Klan member has spent 50 years fighting for equal rights for all Americans, suffering right alongside famous leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks.

On November 4, Zellner will speak at Union College for the inaugural installment of the George Gibson Lecture series. Zellner’s talk, “Imagining a Progressive South: America’s Third Reconstruction,” will explore how the first [American Civil War] and second [Civil Rights Movement of 50s and 60s] reconstructions were overturned and how extremists have spent the last 50 years systematically destroying all the rights won during the civil rights movement, including the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

With more than 50 years of experience in civil rights causes, Zellner has been insulted, brutally beaten and attacked, and arrested more than 18 times in seven different states. He joined the movement in its early years by organizing rallies, sit ins, speeches, participating in marches and freedom rides. In 2014, he was featured in TIME magazine as one of 17 “living legends” of the Civil Rights Movement to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington.

In college, Zellner met both Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mrs. Rosa Parks while conducting research for a class project. Zellner recounts, “As we waited for Dr. King to go out in front of the church, Mrs. Parks — who was an organizer, not just a tired seamstress sitting on the bus; she was an NAACP [National Association for the Advancement of Colored People] organizer — touched me on my elbow (and I haven’t washed that elbow since) and that saint of granite and quiet sincerity said to me, ‘Bob, when you see something wrong, you have to do something about it. You can’t study it forever.’ Now, no one has ever had a commission in the movement or commission in the military that was stronger than that.” Dr. Zellner has told this story many times, and each time he is just as excited about it as he was when it happened.

Bob Zellner was born in southern Alabama in the spring of 1939, to a former robe-wearing member of the Ku Klux Klan turned Methodist preacher and a school teacher. Zellner’s other relatives, his grandfather, uncles and aunt, did not experience this same change of heart. Once when marching with the NAACP, he received a telegram from his mother asking him not to march in Birmingham because his grandfather was going to kill him. “I marched.” said Zellner. “And luckily we were arrested at the state line, so I never had the test. But I knew that I was going to march in Birmingham, I was pretty sure my grandfather was going to shoot me.” Bob said in an interview with the Keppler speaking agency.

Zellner’s civil rights days aren’t over yet, and in his 70’s he is still fighting. In 2013 he was arrested—for the first time in more than a dozen years—at a nonviolent demonstration at the North Carolina General Assembly led by the NAACP state chapter. The protest and many others like it took a stand against policies affecting health care, education, and voting rights. “All over the nation people are wondering why North Carolina wants to go backward rather than forward.” Zellner said. “We have a saying that freedom is a constant struggle. You constantly have to safeguard your own freedoms. That’s why we’re being a witness. And sometimes we have to go to jail. We have to take a risk.”

The George Gibson Lecture Series at Union College was created in 2015 to honor recently retired professor of history, George Gibson, who taught for more than 30 years in Union’s Division of Humanities. Gibson always dreamed of starting a lecture series addressing history and current events. Now thanks to a generous gift from alumnus Rod Colburn and a matching gift from his employer, Goldman Sachs, the series has become a reality.“We are excited to launch with Bob Zellner, a living link to momentous events in the United States this last half century,” said Mark Robison, chair of the Division of Humanities who manages the series.

Zellner’s talk will take place on November 4, 2015, at 7:30 p.m. in Heartland Hall of College View Church. The church is located at the corner of 48th and Prescott on the campus of Union College. The George Gibson Lecture Series is free and open to the public.

This event will be livestreamed on UCLive.

By Alisson Knopp, Student Writer

Media contact

Ryan Teller
Director of Public Relations
402.486.2600 ext. 2272
ryan.teller@ucollege.edu

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter

 

Footer – About/Contact

Union College

... is an accredited, Seventh-day Adventist institution of higher learning in Lincoln, Nebraska since 1891.

  • Learn about Union
  • Consumer Information
  • Employment
  • Website privacy policy

Contact us

ucinfo@ucollege.edu | 402.486.2600
3800 South 48th Street
Lincoln, Nebraska 68506 USA

Footer – Campus systems

Personnel Directory

Employee directory and biographies.

PG

Student directory.

Portal

Register for classes, see grades, make a payment and more.

Canvas

Participate in classes, online.

Footer – Campus systems 2

Library

Access resources and find your study spot.

Calendars

Events | Academic and Class Schedule.

uGroups

Connect and communicate with campus.

Good Morning Union

A devotional thought for every school day.

Footer – Column 4

 

Apply

$

Affordability

Academic Programs

 

Get directions

Ranked top tier by US News
 
News ...
  • News from Union College
  • McClain Kuhel: making space for learning
  • VIDEO: Invitation to an empty classroom
  • Taming the Amazon (financial disclosures)
  • Celebrating the life of Dr. Marilyn McArthur
  • Norma Mena: learning to live healthy for a lifetime
  • Ed Rusk: a champion of lifestyle change
  • Austin Hill: college is hard, but life can be harder
  • Swimming to Europe and back
  • From running club to Ironman to coach: Union graduate embodies the gift of movement
  • Derek Williams pays it forward
  • Arianna Shay returns to Union as PA clinical director
  • Welcome back, Missy!
  • Home
  • About Union College
  • Academics
  • Admissions
  • Advancement Office
  • Campus Ministries
  • Campus Services
  • Services for Parents
  • Student Life
  • Student Success