Folks —

In recognition of Black History Month, I want to tell you about two of my personal heroes: Julius Chambers and James Ferguson, two homegrown North Carolina legal giants.

Through their work to defend civil rights, they created a better nation for everyone and helped inspire my life's work to ensure that our constitution and laws serve all of the people.

I was fortunate to know them as my father's law partners in North Carolina’s first integrated law firm — but our country knows them as two of the most influential civil rights attorneys in the past 50 years.

Julius Chambers grew up during the Jim Crow era in Montgomery County, North Carolina. Even though Chambers graduated law school at the top of his class and as editor-in-chief of the Law Review, not a single big law firm in the state would extend him a job offer. So, he opened up his own law firm in Charlotte with the help of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Julius had a distinguished career as a defender of people’s rights. He sadly passed away in 2013.

James Ferguson was also raised in the Jim Crow era in Asheville, North Carolina. As a junior high school student, Fergie worked to desegregate public facilities in the city. His civil rights work continued as a student at NC Central University and Columbia Law School. After graduation, he joined Chambers and my father to found the Chambers, Stein, Ferguson law firm. Fergie continues his lifelong pursuit of justice to this day.

This February, I ask you to join me in celebrating Black History Month by honoring Black North Carolinians whose legacies have both impacted our state’s past and also shaped our future.

Do you have a story of a Black hero who impacted your life or shaped North Carolina? I’d love to hear it. Click here to share a story you’re reflecting on this Black History Month >>>

Thanks for taking the time to read,

Josh