[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 77 (Wednesday, June 6, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H2932]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




[[Page H2932]]



                 TRIBUTE TO CHANCELLOR JULIUS CHAMBERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, last month a gathering of 
distinguished North Carolinians assembled in Durham to pay tribute to 
Julius Chambers upon his retirement from the chancellorship of North 
Carolina Central University. Speaker after speaker praised Chancellor 
Chambers for his many contributions to the university and to the 
community.
  Today, along with the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Watt), I 
want to pay tribute in this House to Julius Chambers, to his 
distinguished and path-breaking career, to his bold vision, 
perseverance, and ability to inspire that have meant so much to the 
university, to North Carolina and to the Nation.
  Julius Chambers served as chancellor of his alma mater for 8 years, 
and his vision for NCCU reminds me of another leader of a great Durham 
university, Terry Sanford, who led Duke University with what he called 
``outrageous ambitions.'' Julius Chambers brought that tradition of 
``outrageous ambitions'' to Central, and he left the university far 
stronger than he found it.
  Julius Chambers accepted the call to return to Central after a 
distinguished history of leadership in the civil rights movement, the 
legal profession, and higher education. He came back to Durham with a 
reputation as a premier civil rights lawyer, having argued landmark 
desegregation cases in the 1960s and 1970s. His most famous case was 
Swann vs. Board of Education, in which he persuaded the U.S. Supreme 
Court in 1971 to approve Charlotte's comprehensive plan for school 
integration.
  At Central, he moved quickly and effectively to increase public and 
private funding, to raise admissions standards and strengthen 
curricula, to recruit talented faculty and add major facilities in 
biotechnology and education, and to involve Central students in 
community service as an integral part of their curriculum.

                              {time}  1500

  He had an active agenda at the Federal level as well. I enjoyed 
working with him on matters ranging from the impact of the Higher 
Education Act on Historically Black Colleges and Universities to the 
Eagle Village project, which is developing the community around NCCU; 
the highly promising NCCU-EPA partnership at the Biomedical/
Biotechnology Research Institute, which bears Mr. Chambers' name; and 
the restoration of Shepard House, the home of NCCU's founder.
  Julius Chambers graduated summa cum laude from NCCU in 1958, earned a 
master's degree in history from the University of Michigan in 1959, and 
he completed his law degree at the University of North Carolina at 
Chapel Hill in 1962 and earned a master's degree in law from Columbia 
University School of Law in 1964. He was the first African American to 
edit the UNC Law Review. He was selected by Thurgood Marshall to be the 
first intern for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. He founded North 
Carolina's first interracial law firm, which continues a distinguished 
and wide-ranging practice today.
  As he presided over his last commencement this year, Chancellor 
Chambers told students how he felt when he graduated from Central 43 
years ago. Despite being black and poor, he believed he could 
accomplish anything: ``You are expected to succeed. You are expected to 
dream,'' he told the graduates of NCCU. As Julius Chambers returns to 
Charlotte and his law practice, we are grateful for the foundation he 
laid at Central; and we pledge to continue to build on his dream for 
the benefit of all.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Watt), 
a close friend and associate of Mr. Chambers.
  Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Price), my friend and colleague, for yielding to me 
and for joining in this tribute to Julius Chambers. I am proud to join 
with the gentleman in paying tribute to Julius Chambers who, while we 
were out during our most recent break from Congress, retired from the 
chancellorship at North Carolina Central University in Durham, North 
Carolina, on June 1.
  North Carolina Central, of course, was in my congressional district 
for the first 6 years of my service in the Congress; and then, because 
my district lines were redrawn, North Carolina Central went out of my 
congressional district and into the district of the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Price). At that time, Julius Chambers was the 
chancellor of North Carolina Central.
  My relationships with Julius Chambers go back to well before he 
became chancellor of North Carolina Central University in Durham. More 
than 35 years ago, when I was about to enter undergraduate school in 
1963, I had the pleasure of meeting Julius Chambers when he was about 
to open his law firm in Charlotte, North Carolina. Nobody knew at that 
time, of course, what impact Julius Chambers would have on North 
Carolina. Nobody knew that he would become a renowned civil rights 
lawyer and be involved in so many landmark civil rights cases, such as 
school desegregation, employment discrimination, and criminal cases 
with substantial civil rights implications.
  But Julius Chambers was there about to start a law firm, and I was 
about to start undergraduate school; and he was already encouraging me, 
even before I started undergraduate school, to consider going to law 
school and returning to my native city, Charlotte, to practice law. 
This was 7 years before I even got a law degree, and 4 years before I 
got an undergraduate degree, and even then, Julius Chambers was having 
an impact on my life.
  I stayed in contact with him for the next 4 years, for the next 3 
years after that 4 years while I was in law school, and got an offer to 
return to the law firm that he had started in 1970, and did, in fact, 
go back to Charlotte to practice with Julius Chambers in that law firm, 
the first integrated law firm in North Carolina, one of the first 
integrated law firms in the South at that time. He was solely 
responsible for talking me into returning to North Carolina. He was 
solely responsible for talking other professionals, young black 
professionals in particular, into setting up medical practices, 
accounting practices, law practices of various kinds in Charlotte, 
North Carolina, and coming and having an amazing impact on our area of 
North Carolina.
  I happened to be with him when he had a conversation with Harvey Gant 
in which he talked him into coming to Charlotte, North Carolina. He was 
from South Carolina and was not really thinking about coming to North 
Carolina, but came at Julius' insistence and with his persuasion to 
North Carolina, and, of course, has had substantial impact on the 
politics of North Carolina from being the first African American mayor 
of the city of Charlotte to running in 1990 against Jesse Helms for the 
United States Senate, a substantial impact on the politics of North 
Carolina.
  So I want to pay special tribute to Julius Chambers today for all of 
the impact he has had on North Carolina Central University, but more 
importantly to me, for the impact that he has had on my life, because I 
know I would not be standing here as a Member of the Congress of the 
United States, but for the influence that he had on my life. Mr. 
Speaker, I am delighted to join in this tribute.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Julius Chambers, who 
retired on June 1st as Chancellor of North Carolina Central University 
in Durham, North Carolina, which was in my congressional district from 
1993 until 1998 and is now represented by David Price.
  Thirty years ago, I was privileged to get to know Julius Chambers as 
a friend and learn from him as a lawyer when he hired me to join his 
law practice, which was the first integrated law firm in North 
Carolina. In its first decade, his law firm did more to influence 
evolving civil rights law than any other private practice in the United 
States.
  After serving as Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, he 
became Chancellor of North Carolina Central University in 1993. His 
vision has helped transform the school into a major research 
institution.
  Julius Chambers has one of the most brilliant legal minds and is one 
of the most effective civil rights leaders of our time. I am personally 
and professionally indebted to Julius Chambers in so many ways and wish 
him my very best in all future endeavors.

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