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This chapter recounts Julius Chambers's achievements during college, graduate school, and law school. After graduating summa cum laude from North Carolina College for Negroes and obtaining his masters degree in history at the University of Michigan, Chambers was admitted to the University of North Carolina School of Law, desegregated the prior decade by federal court order over the forceful objections of University and North Carolina officials. Chambers, despite being ranked 112th among the 114 students admitted to the Class of 1962 and notwithstanding a generally unwelcoming, often hostile atmosphere at the Law School and on campus, became editor-in-chief of the Law Review and graduated first in his class. This chapter also details Chambers's marriage to Vivian Giles and the couple's decision to move to New York City when, after no North Carolina law firm would grant Chambers a job interview, Columbia Law School quickly stepped forward with the offer of a one-year fellowship.

During World War II, Austin was North Carolina’s leading advocate of the Double V strategy during World War II, fighting for victory at home against racist injustice, while supporting US efforts against the Axis powers abroad. Austin shined a bright light on the contrast between the United States government’s wartime rhetoric of fighting for freedom in Europe and Asia, and the oppression experienced by blacks every day on the home front. Unlike many black leaders in North Carolina, Austin supported A. Philip Randolph’s March on Washington Movement, which compelled President Franklin D. Roosevelt to issue an executive order that banned racial discrimination in defense plants. Despite being harassed by several federal government agencies, including the FBI and the IRS, Austin refused to tone down his attacks on the US and North Carolina governments for perpetuating racially oppressive policies. In 1944, Austin revitalized the Durham branch of the NAACP after a white bus driver murdered a black soldier. The bus driver, who was exonerated by an all-white jury, shot the soldier, who had initially refused to accommodate to Jim Crow seating.

This chapter examines the faculty that Shepard was able to recruit to NCC during the height of the Jim Crow period. It also focuses on Shepard’s desire to elevate the race by hiring qualified faculty of all races who had the ability to train their students to be critical thinkers, while also using their skills in a pragmatic manner. In this chapter I argue that Shepard understood the role of a highly qualified faculty, not only in their capacity as educators but also as researchers. For example, it was with Shepard’s blessings that Dr. John Hope Franklin was able to begin the first draft of his landmark work, From Slavery to Freedom, while he served on the faculty at North Carolina College for Negroes. I also argue that Shepard’s faculty and invited speakers were appointed or invited not only to provide “book knowledge” but also to offer training for his students in becoming moral social activists for the race.

This chapter focuses on Shepard’s early education and career as a druggist, tax collector, cofounder of the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, and superintendent of the International Sunday School Association. I also emphasize his “radical” approach to race relations in Durham at the turn of the twentieth century. By investigating these topics, I develop a clearer understanding of Shepard’s style of leadership as the eventual president of the North Carolina College for Negroes (NCC).