Race, Labor, and Civil Rights: Griggs versus Duke Power and the Struggle for Equal Employment Opportunity

IV: Phase Two; Namely, Economic Freedom: The Title 7 Campaign

91 IV PhaSe tWo; naMeLy, econoMic FreedoM The Title 7 Campaign Civil rights cannot belong to the legal community, it belongs to the community. We have law degrees and understand the law so we are to bring to that struggle that knowledge and those skills. The legal community worked well with the entire community in the past because a part of the struggle of the community is vindication and justification of rights through the courts. Geraldine Sumter, 2005 In his history of the NAACP’s Legal Defense and Educational Fund, former LDF director counsel Jack Greenberg writes, “Before lawyers can win cases there have to be clients willing to stand up for their rights.”1 Clients have played a vital role in the course of civil rights litigation. Although the LDF has enjoyed a rich history as the chief institution working to secure equality for African Americans via the law, its attorneys are quick to recognize the importance of clients in channeling cases into the courtroom, an attitude that has been invaluable in encouraging client-activists to bring a range of cases to the lawyers. Attorneys with the LDF provided astute counsel for grassroots clients who were often connected to local NAACP chapters and shouldered the burden of bringing cases forward, positive their lawyers would complete the journey through the courts. Together, these two entities managed to extend the civil rights agenda and actualize the promises of civil rights legislation of the mid1960s . One law firm based in Charlotte, North Carolina, benchmarked the enduring tradition of the civil rights bar into the post-Brown era. Chambers, Ferguson, Stein and Lanning were among the second generation of civil rights litigators who provided endless support throughout the state to clients such as WillieBoyd.JuliusChambersandpartnersanchoredthestateNAACP’splatform 92 Race, Labor, and Civil Rights of legal activism, and by the mid-1960s the firm was the centerpiece of the civil rights matrix in North Carolina as client-activists began filing suits. This generation of civil rights attorneys and their fellow public interest lawyers earned significant victories designed to advance the gains from previous campaigns. Chambers and staff were not alone in their efforts, as a growing number of civil rights firms surfaced across the nation. Local civil rights attorneys, many of whom took part in the LDF cooperating attorney program or were tangentially connected to LDF, were deeply and often directly connected to adjoining grassroots movements. The lawyers learned from client-activists of the obstacles still limiting their lives and in turn helped clients realize their options under the law. Civil rights lawyers provided judicial solutions to the lingering needs of African Americans, doing so through established channels within protests communities. LDF headquarters at 20 West Fortieth Street in New York City was small, housing only a handful of lawyers.2 Most civil rights attorneys working with the LDF did so by litigating in their respective communities. The LDF took full advantage of local attorneys’ physical location and position of influence by using them to carry the initial casework in those areas. It formalized this practice and created a fund to help upstart cooperating attorneys become established and assist more directly with civil rights litigation.3 This national netting of litigators could, as instructed and assisted by LDF headquarters, more effectively impact legal campaigns by directing cases in their important initial stages which required local insights and connections. These networks proved vital as the NAACP, LDF, and their clients-activists looked to the civil rights acts of the era to complete the quest for equality. Willie Boyd and Jay Griggs would often take the ninety-minute ride to Charlotte from Reidsville with little planning, almost impromptu. In fact, as Boyd remembers, “We would go see Chambers just like we were going to the store.”4 Regularly arriving unannounced, Boyd and others felt entitled to see “their lawyers”5 any time and just about any day. For example, when asked by a staff member if he had an appointment to see Julius Chambers, one client barked back, “Mr. Chambers don’t make me have no appointments.” The client’s frustrated response was correct and highlights the personal approach encouraged by like-minded attorneys. As the firm’s longtime office manager notes, “It was their law firm and they were our people.” Clients regularly received services The Title 7 Campaign 93 that reminded them they were at home, they were safe to air their frustrations...