Julius Chambers: A Life in the Legal Struggle for Civil Rights - Hardcover

Rosen, Richard A.; Mosnier, Joseph

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1469628546 ISBN 13: 9781469628547

Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press, 2016

Synopsis

Born in the hamlet of Mount Gilead, North Carolina, Julius Chambers (1936–2013) escaped the fetters of the Jim Crow South to emerge in the 1960s and 1970s as the nation's leading African American civil rights attorney. Following passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Chambers worked to advance the NAACP Legal Defense Fund's strategic litigation campaign for civil rights, ultimately winning landmark school and employment desegregation cases at the U.S. Supreme Court. Undaunted by the dynamiting of his home and the arson that destroyed the offices of his small integrated law practice, Chambers pushed federal civil rights law to its highwater mark.

In this biography, Richard A. Rosen and Joseph Mosnier connect the details of Chambers's life to the wider struggle to secure racial equality through the development of modern civil rights law. Tracing his path from a dilapidated black elementary school to counsel's lectern at the Supreme Court and beyond, they reveal Chambers's singular influence on the evolution of federal civil rights law after 1964.

About this title

About the Author

Richard A. Rosen is professor of law emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Joseph Mosnier earned his Ph.D. in civil rights legal history, and his Master's in Public Health with a global health emphasis, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He now pursues his interest in social justice in the arena of global public health.

Review

Rosen and Mosnier provide a painstakingly researched account of a civil rights lawyer and icon of the last quarter of the 20th century. Highly recommended.--Choice
A compelling biography that not only sheds light on an unsung figure of the freedom struggle but also illustrates how the gains of the civil rights era were both expanded and challenged in the post-civil rights era. It is a much needed addition to the historiography of the Civil Rights Movement in the courtrooms.--Journal of African American History
[This] carefully researched biography dives deep into the prominent litigator's life and work, highlighting the battles he and his colleagues fought for racial justice both in and out of the courtroom and the impact of those actions on American civil rights. . . . Will inspire anyone who makes it their mission to improve the lives of those around them.--Chapel Hill Magazine
This meticulously researched book has much to offer specialists in civil rights history and anyone who teaches about Swann.--The Journal of Southern History
[An] excellent biography . . . . Julius Chambers succeeds because it delineates the thought and action of a monumental legal mind and is a cautionary tale.--Journal of American Studies
"An excellent resource for understanding how the civil rights struggle played out in less-heralded venues.--Publishers Weekly
An enticing and readable biography of Chambers, and history of the law firm he led.--Cliff Bellamy, Durham Herald-Sun
This first biography of Chambers captur[es] his personality, character, and self-effacing determination. . . . Though books on legal topics are hardly known for their 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.--Library Journal, Starred Review
A remarkable story well told. . . . [and] one that anyone interested in North Carolina history, and particularly the struggle for racial equality, should read.--Rob Christensen, The News and Observer

Edition details

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1469628546
• ISBN 13: 9781469628547
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 408