[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 6]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 7760]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  RECOGNIZING THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE OLD DOMINION BAR ASSOCIATION

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                     HON. ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 21, 2015

  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 
75th Anniversary of the Old Dominion Bar Association (ODBA), of which I 
am proud to be a member. Members will be gathering next week in Glen 
Allen, Virginia for their annual conference and to celebrate this 
historic milestone.
  The ODBA traces its history to a December 1940 incident where an 
African American lawyer was asked to move to another section of the law 
library of the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. Frederic Charles 
Carter, Esq. was working in the law library when he was ordered to move 
to another section because of an alleged new Supreme Court policy 
limiting African American attorneys to a specific section of the law 
library. Carter refused to move and the head librarian summoned a 
police officer to demand Carter see him in his office. Carter later 
inquired in a letter to the Chief Justice whether the court had indeed 
issued a new policy relegating African American lawyers to a special 
section of the law library.
  Several months passed with no response from the Court, so Carter 
began reaching out to fellow African American Attorneys in the 
Commonwealth of Virginia, including R. H. Cooley, Jr. of Petersburg. 
Cooley also contacted colleagues in Norfolk, Newport News, and 
Portsmouth, as well as at the Howard University School of Law, to 
discuss the need to organize a bar association in Virginia specifically 
for African American attorneys.
  Throughout 1941, Cooley and the following individuals met to organize 
the ODBA: J. Thomas Hewin, Sr., Roland D. Ealey, James T. Carter, 
Fredric Charles Carter, J. Byron Hopkins and Oliver W. Hill of 
Richmond; W. S. Duiguid of Lynchburg; Martin A. Martin of Danville; 
Thomas W. Young and J. Eugene Diggs of Norfolk; James Raby of 
Alexandria; and L. Marian Poe of Newport News.
  The organizational meeting for the ODBA was set for April 12, 1942 in 
Richmond. Twenty-five attorneys attended the organizational meeting 
where they elected their inaugural officers: Oliver W. Hill, President; 
L. Marian Poe, Secretary; Martin A. Martin, Vice-President; and James 
M. Morris (of Staunton), Treasurer.
  On May 21, 1942, the new association met again to adopt their 
constitution and set an annual membership fee of $4.50. Some balked at 
the cost which prompted Oliver Hill to include the following message on 
organization notices: ``If you are very, very busy--we need you. If you 
don't think you can afford it, you need us.''
  As America became increasingly involved in World War II, many ODBA 
members, including its president Oliver W. Hill, entered military 
service to fight for our nation overseas. It was during this time that 
R. H. Cooley, Jr. became the organization's acting president. 
Throughout the war, he urged all members to ``keep abreast with service 
legislation in order to aid men and women in uniform and their families 
in matters pertaining to insurance, dependency allotments and any other 
phases necessary to solve their perplexing problems.'' Cooley also 
urged association members to help returning veterans, including 
volunteering their legal services when necessary.
  By the war's end, there were forty-four active members of the 
association all across the Commonwealth, with local groups of ODBA 
members established in Richmond, on the Virginia Peninsula, in South 
Hampton Roads, and in Northern Virginia.
  Originally organized to confront a discriminatory policy that 
offended the personal and professional dignity of members of the 
Virginia Bar, it has grown into an essential professional organization 
for African American attorneys practicing law in the Commonwealth of 
Virginia. It has not only provided positive professional relationships 
for its members and trained them to be effective advocates for their 
clients, but has also broken down barriers to membership and full 
participation for African American attorneys statewide and in the local 
bar associations and to their election as judges throughout Virginia. 
Moreover, its members have led the effort to desegregate America in all 
areas of public and private life, including education, employment, 
housing, and public accommodations.
  Today, the ODBA continues its strong legacy of pursuing justice and 
ensuring its member lawyers hold themselves to the highest level of 
professional skill and conduct. The association holds numerous 
professional development seminars annually. And its members are very 
active in other national, state and local bar associations, as well as 
their local communities in general through community service and active 
civic engagement.
  Mr. Speaker, as the Old Dominion Bar Association gathers in Glen 
Allen next week for its annual meeting, I wish to congratulate the 
association's current president, Helivi L. Holland, Esq., and all its 
members, past and present, on this 75th anniversary and thank them for 
all that they have done and continue to do on behalf of the legal 
profession and the full participation of all in the life and bounties 
of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the nation as a whole.

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