Julius L. Chambers Civil Rights Memorial Post Office

Floor Speech

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Ms. ADAMS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairwoman from Michigan for yielding, as well the gentleman from North Carolina.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4981, which would designate the U.S. 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 to hear his father's case because his father was Black, Julius Chambers vowed to become a lawyer himself.

At North Carolina Central University--then the North Carolina College at Durham--for his undergraduate education, Chambers served as student body president. 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, Julius 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 & and Sumter, P.A. It is still in operation today.

Notably, in 1970, Chambers argued successfully before the U.S. Supreme Court in the landmark Swann v. Charlotte-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 9 years, where he continued to 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. Speaker, my State and our Nation are undoubtedly better because of the life of Julius L. Chambers. I admired this man, and I was pleased to know him and had many conversations with him during his lifetime.

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 that he worked so hard to improve.

I thank my colleague, Mr. Meadows, and all of my colleagues from North Carolina and that delegation for supporting this legislation.

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