Today's Articles

People, Locations, Episodes

Sat, 06.11.1932

James Nabrit III, Lawyer born

James Nabrit III

*James Nabrit III was born on this date in 1932. He was a Black civil rights attorney and legal activist.

James Madison Nabrit III was born in Houston, Texas, the son of James Nabrit, Jr., a prominent civil rights attorney, law professor, and later President of Howard University. He grew up in Washington, D.C., where he attended segregated public schools for part of his high school education.

He finished high school at the Mount Hermon School for Boys, now Northfield Mount Hermon, in Massachusetts. Nabrit III graduated from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, in 1952 and Yale Law School in 1955.

Nabrit III began his career with the Reeves, Robinson & Duncan law firm and served two years in the U.S. Army. Following his military service, he spent 30 years (1959–1989) as an attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. He was an ally of Thurgood Marshall, who won several important decisions before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Nabrit III argued many critical civil rights cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and various U.S. Courts of Appeals, including Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education in 1972 and Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham in 1969. He argued 12 cases before the Supreme Court and won 9.

James Nabrit III died on March 22, 2013, in a hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, suffering from lung cancer. He was 80.

To Become a Lawyer

New Poem Each Day

Poetry Corner

Little people often make big heroes- From the unknown ranks Of the population swellers; From the Jones and Janes distinguished Only by social security numbers Giants spring; Giants whose names Soon become a familiar taste in the... LITTLE AND BIG by Frank Marshall Davis.
Read More