James Nabrit, Jr.

Who was James Nabrit, Jr.?

James Madison Nabrit, Jr. was a prominent civil rights attorney who won several important arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, served as president of Howard University for much of the 1960s, and was appointed Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations by President Lyndon B. Johnson. His brother, Samuel M. Nabrit, was appointed to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. His son, James Nabrit, III, 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.