Charles Cynthia Rawls was born on February 10, 1934 to the union of her parents, Charles Allen (C.A.) Rawls and Maude Ellis Crofton Rawls. Charles Cynthia’s place of birth at 301 Bradford Street in Brownsville, was unique as it was not only the Rawls family residence, but also doubled as the first site of Rawls Funeral Home, their family business which has served West Tennessee now for over 90 years. Cynthia’s childhood provided the foundation that would define her life. As a little girl, she learned that family, extended family, and community were often indistinguishable. She understood the importance of community as well as her responsibility to it. She witnessed entrepreneurship grounded in collaboration with and service to the entire community. This same community, in turn, nurtured, informed, and inspired her. One night she was at home counting coins with her Uncle Buddy when a neighbor knocked on the door to warn them that Elbert Williams, another Bradford resident, had been taken from his home. by the police. A few days later, her funeral director father would be summoned to the Hatchie River to retrieve Williams’s remains after his brutal lynching.
These early learnings, both inside and out of the classroom, shaped her to become the sought-after speaker and civic leader that she became. As recent as last year, just 12 months ago, Cynthia received an Honorary Doctorate Degree of Letters from Lane College, Jackson, Tennessee. And in 2023, the Tennessee State NAACP Conference awarded her the “Women in NAACP Bridge of Honor Award at its 77 th Annual State Convention, for her distinguished service in supporting civil rights and justice for all citizens of Tennessee.
There are countless other recognitions which speak to her enduring legacy of giving, sharing, and lifting others up, a few of which are listed below: Appointed in 1984 by Governor Lamar Alexander to the State Board of Education, becoming the first Black businesswoman on the newly established Board. Appointed to the Judicial Evaluation Commission and the Commission on the Future of the Tennessee Judicial System. She was especially privileged to work on the Commission on the Future of the Tennessee Judicial System as fellow Haywood County resident and NAACP member, serving during the term of Judge Lyle Reid, who was the Tennessee Supreme Court’s Chief Justice during her terms. Honored in 1994 with the first Avon N. Williams, Jr. Living Legend Award at the 20 th Annual Legislative Retreat, in Gatlinburg, TN. Upon her father’s death in 1987, she became the president of Golden Circle Life Insurance Company, a company Black Enterprise Magazine had ranked 9 out of the 12 Black owned insurance companies in the United States. Served several terms as secretary of the National Insurance Association at the time that she became the president of the Golden Circle Life Insurance Company. Honored with the Fisk University Alumni Achievement Award for Service to the Community in 2002. In 2003, after serving on the Governor Phil Bredesen Transition Team, Bredesen then appointed her to the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission. She was the first African American member of this Commission, representing the state’s western district.
In essence, Cynthia actively contributed to her community throughout her life, encouraging and mentoring youth; catering to the elderly; and listening to those who were often felt unheard. She worked tirelessly to build a better world one in which fellow human beings were respected and protected.
In her formative years, Cynthia attended Haywood County Training School, graduated from Northeast Junior High School in Kansas City, KS then embarked on a new adventure when she enrolled in St. Rita Academy in St. Louis, MO, an all-girl Catholic boarding school run by the Oblate Sisters of Providence, a Black order of nuns committed to educating girls of the African diaspora who were often excluded from academic spaces. When this school closed to support desegregation efforts, she was able to complete her high school education at St. Frances Academy in Baltimore, Maryland, also run by the Oblate Sisters of Providence. It was there she met young girls from Cuba and other parts of the world—making the African diaspora come alive. She graduated from high school in 1951. She then spent her first two years of college at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and later transferred to Fisk University in Nashville, TN. She graduated in the Class of 1955 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. While at Fisk, she became a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., a public service sorority she supported throughout her life.
In 1956, she earned a master’s degree in Guidance and Personnel Administration from New York University. She was employed at Riverside Hospital, a treatment center for drug-addicted youth, one of the first of its kind in the area. While in New York, she became a registered voter, a right denied to Blacks at home.
After graduation, Cynthia returned to Brownsville to work in the family businesses: Rawls Funeral Home and Golden Circle Life Insurance. Volunteering in the community, she also joined the Haywood County Civic and Welfare League and became the first secretary of the newly-formed Haywood County Branch of the NAACP in 1961 (In an ironic life-turning twist, it’s historically important to also note that the very first chapter of the Haywood County NAACP was co-founded by Cynthia’s cousin Mattye Tollette Bond and Ollie S. Bond (her future husband’s uncle). This first Brownsville chapter of the NAACP was forced to disband out of fear of death after the murder of Elbert Williams, mentioned in Cynthia’s early childhood.) Charles Cynthia worked tirelessly with the local branch throughout her life and was its last surviving charter member. Also. while working at Golden Circle Life Insurance (founded in 1958 by her father, Al Rawls), Cynthia actively pursued the initiative of fighting for voter rights for Blacks in Haywood County; while at the same time, she was busy planning her wedding.
On August 27, 1961, Cynthia married the love of her life, Maltimore Bond, on the front lawn of her parents’ home on Cynthia Drive. They couple made their first home in Lansing, Michigan, where Maltimore worked as a civil engineer with the Corps of Engineers. After their first child, Jo Zanice, was born, they returned to Tennessee. In the mid-1960s, the couple and other parents organized a Head-Start-inspired pre-school for their children who were ineligible for Head-Start. Cynthia was a principal fund raiser for the school which was located in First Baptist Church.
Cynthia actively contributed to her community throughout her entire life, encouraging and mentoring the youth, catering to the elderly, and listening to those who were often unheard. She worked to build a better world, one in which fellow human beings were respected and protected.
Additionally, Bond served on numerous boards: as a member of the Insouth Bank Board of Directors and is distinguished as the first woman to have served on that board. She is a former member of the Haywood Park Hospital Board and the Methodist Haywood Park Hospital Board. She is also a former member of the YMCA Board, the Boys and Girls Club Board, the Tennessee Black Health Care Commission, the YMCA Regional Board and Birth Choice Advisory Board and served as vice-chair of the Lane College Trustee Board.
Cynthia was a principal in the Brownsville-based Golden Circle Insurance Agency, Inc., a spin-off from Golden Circle Life Insurance Company. She enjoyed contributing to the “Special Friends” Program at Sunny Hill School and often hosted luncheons at her home for “The Winners Circle”, a group of vulnerable youth determined to succeed despite the odds.
Not one for wanting to waste precious time, Cynthia was also a dedicated member of the Jackson TN Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., the Jackson Tennessee Chapter of The LINKS, Incorporated, and a Diamond Life Member of the Haywood County NAACP Branch.
All who have been touched by Cynthia’s love, her generosity, and her caring spirit during her life and career endeavors will be forever blessed to carry on and to pass on this legacy of our Charles Cynthia Rawls Bond. Cynthia was preceded in death by her parents C.A. and Maude E. Rawls, her brother W.D. Rawls, Sr., and her devoted friend and loving husband of 60 years, Maltimore Bond.
Cynthia leaves a large, loving family to celebrate her life and honor her memory— most immediately are her four children Dr. Jo Zanice Bond of Auburn, AL; Alan Rawls Bond and Andrea Bond Johnson (Dwight Johnson) of Brownsville, TN, Maude Bond (Richard McDonald) of Carpinteria, CA; grandchildren Dr. Dwight Johnson, II , MD (Dr. Taylor Brooks, MD) of Beltsville, Maryland; David Alan Johnson, Esq. of Harlem, NY; Nicholas Drake Bond of Oak Bluff, Massachusetts; Lauryn Zanice Bond of Brownsville, TN; Kyron Alexander Bond of Tougaloo, MS; brothers and sisters-in-law Dr. Andrew B. Bond and Countess Bond Metcalf (Fred) of Goodlettsville, TN; Barbara H. Bond and Garnett (Barbara M.) Bond, Jr., of Nashville, TN, Geraldus (Dr. Beverly G.) Bond of Germantown, TN; her eldest living relative Mildred Bond Roxborough of New York City, NY; and host of nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.
