James Nabrit Jr.
James Madison Nabrit, Jr. (1900–1997) was a prominent civil rights attorney who won several important arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, served as president of Howard University from 1960 to 1965 and late 1966 to 1969 and was the father of James Nabrit, III who is also a civil rights attorney.
James Nabrit, Jr. was born in Georgia on September 7, 1900 to James Nabrit, Sr., a Baptist minister and baker and to Norma Walton. He graduated from Morehouse College in 1923 and from Northwestern University Law School in 1927. Nabrit taught school in Louisiana and Arkansas from 1927 to 1930. From 1930 to 1936 he practiced law in Houston, Texas. Nabrit taught law at Howard University from 1936 to 1960. In 1938 he started the first formal civil rights law course in the United States.
Civil Rights cases
Beginning in the 1940s and through the 1950s, Nabrit handled a number of civil rights cases for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, working with prominent attorneys such as Thurgood Marshall, later a Supreme Court justice. Notably, Nabrit argued Bolling v. Sharpe, a companion case of Brown v. Board of Education.
James M. Nabrit, Jr's parents were Rev.James Madison Nabrit, Sr. and Gertrude Augusta West. Norma Walton was the wife of James M. Nabrit, Jr. from 1924 until her death in 1988.
Reverend James M. Nabrit, Sr., a son of former slaves, became President of the American Baptist Institute in Nashville, and Secretary of the National Baptist Convention. Himself a learned college graduate, who taught some of his children Latin, Greek and Physics, James M. Nabrit, Sr. was the father of 8 college graduates, and seven who earned advanced degrees. His son Samuel M. Nabrit, a marine biologist, became President of Texas Southern University and a member of the United States Atomic Energy Commission.
President of Howard and later life
Nabrit served as president of Howard University from 1960 to 1965. From 1965 to 1967 he served as Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. He returned to the presidency of Howard from 1968 to 1969 stepping down after pressure from the American Association of University Professors after he expelled 18 disruptive students. Nabrit cited the black power movement "disruptions" as his primary reason for stepping down. Nabrit died on December 27, 1997 in Washington, D.C at the age of 97. He was survived by his only son, James Nabrit, III
Biographies
- Smalls, F. Romall, Kenneth T. Jackson, (editor). "James Madison Nabrit, Jr." In The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Volume 5. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons/Gale Group 2002: 413-414
- James Nabrit, Jr., Civil Rights Lawyer and Former President of Howard. In JET Magazine, Vol. 93, No. 8 (Jan. 19, 1998, page 18)