NewsRelease

Civil Rights Pioneer Julius Chambers to Speak Oct. 29

GREENSBORO - Trailblazing civil rights attorney Dr. Julius Chambers, the founder of North Carolina’s first integrated law firm, will speak at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 29 at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

The speech in Elliott University Center Auditorium will commemorate the upcoming 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court decision that led to the integration of America's public schools. It is part of this year’s Race and Gender Institute – “Barriers to Learning: Issues in Literacy and Education from a Race and Gender Perspective.”

Chambers earned his bachelor's degree from North Carolina Central University and law degrees from UNC-Chapel Hill and Columbia University. After founding the state's first integrated law firm, he shaped civil rights law by winning landmark U.S. Supreme Court decisions, including the desegregation of Charlotte's schools.

He led the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund for nine years. A former chancellor of NCCU, he now practices law in Charlotte. The Neo-Black Society Choir has been invited to perform.

A Race and Gender Institute event on Jan. 29 will examine literacy efforts in North Carolina’s Piedmont. Gale Greenlee, multicultural services coordinator at the Greensboro Public Library, and others will participate in the program from 2-4 p.m. in Elliott University Center’s Cone Ballroom.

On April 20, author and activist Jonathan Kozol will speak at the university. After being fired from his teaching job in 1967 for reading a Langston Hughes poem to his students, Kozol wrote “Death at an Early Age,” which helped put urban schools on America's political agenda.

An eloquent spokesman for the disenfranchised, he has since tackled illiteracy, homelessness, and educational inequality, earning the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award and the Conscience in Media Award for his efforts. His presentation is also free and open to the public.

The Race and Gender Institute is sponsored by Jackson Library. All programs are free and open to the public, and additional programs will be announced later. For more information, contact Special Projects Librarian Barry Miller at 256-0112 or by email at barry_miller@uncg.edu.

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