Voices of Diversity

Alvin O. Chambliss, Esq.
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Professor Alvin O. Chambliss, Jr., Distinguish Scholar in Education with an emphasis on African American and African Diaspora Studies. He is a pioneer in Higher Education Desegregation Law and the last original “Civil Rights Attorney” in America. Mr. Chambliss is a 1967 graduate of Jackson State University. A member of the J-State football, debate, and political science teams, he also led the Student Government Association in Civil Rights protest! In 1970, Mr. Chambliss earned his Juris Doctor degree from Howard University School of Law. At the “Capstone”, he co-founded two consumer clinics and worked with the legendary Professor Herbert O. Reid, Jr. on Powell v. McCormack, to overturn the late Adam Clayton Powell’s expulsion from the U.S. House of Representatives. Mr. Chambliss has also earned a Masters of Law degree from the University of California at Berkeley. His “Boalt Hall” experience included working with Attorney Howard Moore, Area Media Groups, April Coalition, and Huey P. Newton, etc.

Since his graduation from law school, Mr. Chambliss has devoted his professional life to working to provide legal representation to the poor and powerless of society. In addition to his service at North Mississippi Rural Legal Services, where he had held virtually every position from staff attorney to Director of the Program, he has worked for the Legal Aid Society of Alameda County in Oakland, CA, the New Orleans Legal Assistance Program, and Citizen Communication center for Responsive Media, Washington, D.C., as well as the National Conference of Black Lawyers and Operation PUSH, Memphis, TN.

Educators, civil rights activists, and national and community leaders throughout the United States have praised Mr. Chambliss’ legal work. He was lead counsel in the Mississippi Higher Education desegregation case, Ayers v. Barbour, for 27 tears and is still counsel for 99.9% of plaintiff’s class. One of his colleagues said of Mr. Chambliss’ involvement in the Ayers case: “He took over the case without any guarantees. He maneuvered it with grace, passion, and the competitiveness of Magic Johnson. Alvin believed the Ayers case was the program’s number one priority and he never allowed anyone to forget it.” Later years have not diminished his zeal to craft an effective remedy for Public Black Colleges that will propel them into research university status. His determination to “create a type of legal practitioner who shapes litigation into a vehicle for social change” carried him to Thurgood Marshall Law School where he has trained “Ayers Angels” and other activist lawyers. Among his clients were “Sugar Ditch Alley” residents in Tunica County, MS; parent of James Byrd of Jasper, TX dragging death; and parents of Raynard Johnson of the Kokomo, MS hanging case.

Mr. Chambliss has written extensively on Higher Education and problems of HBCUs, voting rights, housing, and poverty law. On April 30, 1995, Dr. Samuel Potts, President of Mary Holmes College conferred upon Mr. Chambliss, the Honorary Doctor of Laws degree. The degree was awarded for “Achievements in the Field oaf Law, as well as Exceptional Support of the Community and Historically Black Colleges and Universities.” Mr. Chambliss has also been cited by Black Issues in Higher Education as one of the “Most Significant Blacks in the Last 100 Years”, 2000; Lawyer of Year “Ming Award” NAACP, 1992; “Chaucey Ethridge Award” SCLC, 1993; “NCBL Freedom Fighter Lawyer of Year”, 1994; Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, TLPJ Layers of Year, 2002; Greater Houston, TX NAACP ALEX Award, Lawyer of Year 2003; and Mississippi “MLK” Man of the Year Award 2004.

He has been married to Josephine Johnson Chambliss for 32 years. On the 51st anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, Chambliss believes that Brown has been on a respiratory since 1992 and if Brown does not mean Black College equality, it is dead and awaits a decent burial by the Supreme Court. However, there is power in the people and when our youth unite, they will be like dry bones in the valley and the connectiveness from above will bring the winds of change to Higher Education in the south. The resuscitation of Brown, Adams, and Title VI and the Public Black College will be complete. The nation must educate to liberate.