Adams' Bill Honoring Julius Chambers Passes House
Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Alma S. Adams, Ph.D., (NC-12)'s bill to name a Charlotte Post Office in honor of civil rights legend Julius Chambers has passed the House.
In prepared floor remarks, Congresswoman Adams said, "my state and our nation are undoubtedly better for the life of Julius L. Chambers. During this Black History Month, I hope that my colleagues will join me in voting in favor of this legislation and help me honor this civil rights legend in a community he worked so hard to improve."
Full Floor Speech
"Mr./Madam Speaker, today I rise in support of H.R. 4981, which would designate the US Post Office facility at 2505 Derita Avenue in Charlotte, North Carolina as the Julius L. Chambers Civil Rights Memorial Post Office.
Julius LeVonne Chambers was born in Mount Gilead, North Carolina in 1935.
When he was young, a white man stole from his father, an auto mechanic, by refusing to pay a substantial bill. When attorneys in Mount Gilead refused his father's case because he was black, Julius Chamber vowed to become a lawyer himself.
At North Carolina Central University (then the North Carolina College at Durham) for his undergraduate education, Mr. Chambers served as student body president.
Then, while attending UNC Chapel Hill for law school, Julius Chambers was the first African American editor-in-chief of that school's prestigious law review.
Upon graduating and moving to Charlotte in 1964, Mr. Chambers began a prolific legal career that would see him fight for justice and equality.
He founded his own law firm and immediately began to litigate key discrimination cases after white firms would not hire him.
Mr. Chambers' firm would later become North Carolina's first integrated law firm. Ferguson, Chambers, & Sumter, P.A. is still in operation today.
Notably, in 1970 Chambers argued successfully before the US Supreme Court in the landmark Swann v. Mecklenburg Board of Education that resulted in the desegregation of the Charlotte Mecklenburg School system.
As he fought for equality, there were many who fought to stop him. In January 1965, his car was burned; in November 1965, his home was bombed; and in February 1971, his office was firebombed.
According to the New York Times, "his response was defiant; he said he would ‘keep fighting.' It was also measured. ‘We must accept this type of practice,' he said, ‘from those less in control of their faculties.'"
Though he endured hardships, he did not grow weary of his mission.
As he grew into one of the nation's most accomplished civil rights lawyers, Julius Chambers would go on to lead the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund for over nine years, where he continued the fight for social justice and equality.
He would later return to North Carolina Central University to serve as Chancellor, where he proudly cultivated young minds from 1993 until 2001.
After a lifetime of service to others, Julius L. Chambers passed away at the age of 76 in 2013.
Mr./Madam Speaker, my state and our nation are undoubtedly better for the life of Julius L. Chambers.
During this Black History Month, I hope that my colleagues will join me in voting in favor of this legislation and will do this incredible man a small honor."
H.R. 4981 would designate the US Post Office facility at 2505 Derita Avenue in Charlotte, North Carolina as the Julius L. Chambers Civil Rights Memorial Post Office. The post office is in North Carolina's 12th Congressional District. The bill now moves to the Senate for approval.