The publication is reproduced in full below:
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.
____________________
SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 195
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