[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 195 (Friday, November 5, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1209-E1210]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    IN REMEMBRANCE OF JULIUS L. CHAMBERS, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY AND 
                                EDUCATOR

                                  _____
                                 

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, November 5, 2021

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, eleven months ago, on December 3, 
2020, legislation introduced by my friend and colleague, Congresswoman 
Alma Adams of North Carolina, was signed into law as P.L. 116-203, 
designating the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 
2505 Derita Avenue in Charlotte, North Carolina, as the ``Julius L. 
Chambers Civil Rights Memorial Post Office''.
  As a senior member of the Committee on the Judiciary and one who 
benefited from the work to which Julius Chambers dedicated his life, I 
rise to briefly discuss for the record why this was a fitting and 
appropriate tribute to one of the giants of the Civil Rights Movement 
and the unending quest for equal justice under the law and to make our 
union more perfect.
  Born October 6, 1936 in Mount Gilead, North Carolina, Julius LeVonne 
Chambers grew up during the Jim Crow era during which he experienced 
daily the indignity of racial discrimination.
  In order to help end segregation and racial discrimination, Julius 
Chambers decided to pursue a career in law.
  After receiving his undergraduate degree from North Carolina Central 
University, Julius Chambers attended the University of Michigan where 
he earned a masters degree in history.
  Julius Chambers then returned to his native North Carolina to attend 
law school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he 
was the first African American editor-in-chief of the school's law 
review, and graduated as valedictorian in his class of 100 students.
  Julius Chambers became the first African American to gain membership 
in the Order of the Golden Fleece, which is the University's highest 
honorary society.
  In 1964, Julius Chambers earned his LL.M from Columbia University Law 
School.
  Julius Chambers began his law practice in Charlotte, North Carolina, 
becoming the first integrated firm in the history of North Carolina.
  Under the leadership of Julius Chambers, the firm took and won 
several important cases in the Supreme Court of the United States that 
eradicate discrimination and strengthen America's civil rights laws.
  In the course of this important work, Julius Chambers faced several 
challenges and obstacles, including threats of harm and actual violence 
when his car, law office, and house were bombed by segregationist 
terrorists.
  In 1984, Julius Chambers left the Charlotte firm to accept the 
position of Director and Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and 
Education Fund, Inc. and under his leadership, the LDF took several 
cases to court regarding education, voting rights, employment, capital 
punishment, prisons and housing.
  In 1993, Julius Chambers left the LDF to return to Durham, North 
Carolina to become the chancellor of his alma mater: North Carolina 
Central University.
  Julius Chambers' remarkable career in education is impressive: he 
served as lecturer at several law schools, including Harvard, the 
University of Virginia, the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, and 
the University of Michigan.
  Julius Chambers also served as distinguished professor at North 
Carolina Central University and clinical professor of law and director 
of the Center for Civil Rights at the University of North Carolina Law 
School.
  Madam Speaker, P.L. 116-203 memorializes Julius Chambers, a lion of 
the struggle for civil rights and a great man whose good works remind 
us all what America can and deserves to become: a land of equal 
opportunity and equal justice under the law.

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