[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 83 (Thursday, June 14, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1114]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    A TRIBUTE TO JULIUS L. CHAMBERS

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                           HON. BOB ETHERIDGE

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 14, 2001

  Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Julius 
Levonne Chambers of Durham, North Carolina, who retired as Chancellor 
of North Carolina Central University on June 1st. Today we honor Mr. 
Chambers for his accomplishments as a civil rights lawyer and for his 
service to North Carolina Central University and my home state.
  Julius Chambers was born in Mount Gilead, North Carolina, a small 
community east of Charlotte, in 1936. He learned about racial 
discrimination at an early age when a white man refused to pay for 
repairs that Chambers' father had made on the man's truck. In 1954, the 
year of Chamber's graduation from high school, the Supreme Court handed 
down its landmark ruling regarding Brown v. Board of Education. Indeed 
even at an early age it seemed that Julius Chambers was destined to be 
a key figure in the civil rights movement.
  In the fall of 1954, Chambers enrolled at North Carolina Central 
University, which was then called North Carolina College, where in his 
senior year, he served as the institution's student body president. 
Chambers graduated from North Carolina Central in 1958, and after 
earning his master's in history at the University of Michigan, he came 
back to North Carolina to study law at the University of North Carolina 
at Chapel Hill. While he studied law in Chapel Hill, Chambers' path 
intersected with the civil rights movement once again, when he was 
chosen Editor-in-Chief of the University of North Carolina Law Review, 
thus becoming the first African American to hold this title at a 
historically white law school in the South. After graduating first in 
his class of 100 in 1962, Chambers attended Columbia University Law 
School. Then in 1963, Thurgood Marshall selected Chambers to be the 
first intern at the NAACP's Legal Defense and Education Fund.
  Once he completed schooling, it did not take Julius Chambers long to 
make his own impact on the civil rights movement. He opened his own law 
practice in June of 1964, and from this one-person law office, he 
created the first integrated law firm in North Carolina history. 
Chambers, with the help of his partners and lawyers from the Legal 
Defense Fund, litigated many historic civil fights cases, including 
Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education (1971), that helped 
shaped our nation's civil rights law. In 1984, Chambers left the firm 
to become the Director of the Legal Defense Fund. He would serve in 
this position for nine years, until he was inaugurated as Chancellor at 
his alma mater, North Carolina Central University.
  Upon his arrival at Central in 1993, Chancellor Chambers faced a 
daunting challenge. Over the next eight years, Chambers used his many 
contacts and his reputation as a civil rights lawyer to replenish the 
University's coffers and improve its infrastructure. But more 
importantly, he revitalized the University's strong and proud spirit by 
virtue of his excellent leadership. He had a vision for North Carolina 
Central University to make the school the best liberal arts institution 
in the nation. And even in his last days as Chancellor he was still 
talking about providing better resources for students, hiring qualified 
and committed faculty, and improving academic achievement. He was a 
truly great Chancellor and he helped to shape the lives of so many of 
North Carolina's young African American leaders.
  While recruiting Chambers for the Chancellor's position at Central, 
Mr. C.D. Spangler, the former president of the University of North 
Carolina system, told Chambers: ``If you were chancellor at North 
Carolina Central University, 5,000 students will walk with their heads 
held higher because you're there.''
  Mr. Speaker, everyone involved with the North Carolina Central family 
and every citizen in North Carolina can hold their heads high today as 
we honor Julius Chambers for his career and his remarkable 
accomplishments.
  My wife Faye joins me in wishing Julius Chambers and his wife Vivian 
all the best in the future. And on behalf of a grateful state, thank 
you Julius Chambers for a job well done.

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