Julius Chambers

October 24, 2016
The name Julius Chambers may not be as familiar to most readers as those of Thurgood Marshall or other leading figures in the legal struggle to advance the cause of African-American civil rights, but as Rosen, emeritus professor of law at UNC–Chapel Hill, and Mosnier, of North Carolina State University’s Institute for Emerging Issues, show in this first biography of this crusading attorney, he would “help change the face of North Carolina and the nation.” That Chambers was able to join the legal profession was itself a huge achievement. Born in rural North Carolina in the midst of the Depression, he attended schools that were deficient even by the standards of the Jim Crow South. But the young man was energized by the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision opposing segregation, which to him “was the signal I could do anything.” Chambers’s accomplishments include becoming the first African-American editor of a white Southern law review, joining the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and challenging the racial order of deeply segregated Charlotte, N.C. Some readers may find Rosen and Mosnier’s book excessively long and detailed, but it’s an excellent resource for understanding how the civil rights struggle played out in less-heralded venues.

Starred review from October 15, 2016

Overshadowed by former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall's legacy are several lawyers who carried out the civil rights movement in the 1960s and 1970s; Julius Chambers (1936-2013) is a significant example. Although he is not a household name, Chambers was a prominent attorney from North Carolina who helped the state overcome its Jim Crow culture, particularly in the area of school and employment discrimination. Rosen (emeritus, law, Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) and Mosnier (Inst. for Emerging Issues, North Carolina State Univ.) are well qualified to write this first biography of Chambers, capturing his personality, character, and self-effacing determination. Chambers created the first integrated law firm in North Carolina, with substantial assistance from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. As a result, his car, house, and office were firebombed during his largely successful career championing social justice. Though books on legal topics are hardly known for readability, this one is an exception. More than a simple biography of a lawyer, this account chronicles an entire law firm and how civil rights are achieved in the real world. VERDICT Essential reading for those interested in African American history; the civil rights movement; and legal history, especially relating to North Carolina.--William D. Pederson, Louisiana State Univ., Shreveport

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