From Founding to Future: Exploring the History of the NCBA and Systemic Racism (2023 Association Annual Meeting CLE)
9:00 Welcome and Introductions
9:15 Racist Roots: A History of the NCBA's Founding, the Wilmington Race Massacre and Coup d’état, and Jim Crow
Former Judge Lucy Inman, Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman PLLC, Raleigh Peter Grear, Attorney at Law, Wilmington Richard A. Paschal, Ph.D., Tharrington Smith LLP, Raleigh Donyell Roseboro, Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Wilmington (Moderator)
This table-setting session explores the ties between the founding of the North Carolina Bar Association and the 1898 massacre in Wilmington. Panelists also delve into the role of early Jim Crow laws and how these laws impacted the new organization, its operations and society generally.
10:15 Break
10:30 Announcements and Introductions
10:45 NCBA in the Civil Rights Era: A Blend of Intransigence and Leadership
U.S. Representative G. K. Butterfield (Ret.), McGuireWoods LLP, Washington, D.C. Former Judge Charles L. Becton, Durham Kenneth W. Lewis, Maynard Nexsen, Raleigh (Moderator) Eric C. Michaux, Michaux & Michaux, Durham
Moving from NCBA's founding into the civil rights era, this session reviews the white supremacist policies and ideas that were incorporated into the Association's constitution that limited membership to "any white person" and included in addresses during the NCBA's early annual meetings. The language limiting membership in the NCBA to "any white person" was not removed from the NCBA constitution until 1965. This discussion also focuses on the work Black lawyers were doing and their successes during the Civil Rights Era while their membership was not allowed.
11:45 Lunch Break and Association Annual Meeting
2:00 Announcements and Introductions
2:15 Realism, Resilience and the Future: Female African American Judges in North Carolina and the Future*
Former Chief Justice Cheri Beasley, Raleigh Senior Resident Judge Carla Archie, North Carolina Superior Court, Charlotte Judge Ashleigh Parker Dunston, North Carolina District Court, Raleigh Taylor M. Dewberry, Smith Anderson Blount Dorsett Mitchell & Jernigan LLP, Raleigh (Moderator)
Transitioning from the Civil Rights Era, the door opened for several other movements to advance. This session highlights the advancement of women, particularly Black women on the bench. This panel discusses the journey to the bench, the experience of Black women on the bench, strategies for success, bringing others along, and access to justice, all while sharing lessons learned that can take us into the future.
On November 10, 1898, the duly elected government and thriving Black community in Wilmington was overthrown and violently run out of town. Many businessmen, civic leaders, and families were faced with the horrifying option of either leaving their homes, businesses, and positions or facing death. In a matter of hours, a new government was installed, and Wilmington was transformed. Not only did it change the economic opportunity and livelihood of the Black people living in Wilmington at the time but also for the generations that followed. These events were the culmination of a political campaign that had swept the state based on white supremacy that put the Democratic party in power and led to the disenfranchisement of Black North Carolinians and the enactment of early Jim Crow laws.
Three months to the day after the Wilmington coup, on February 10, 1899, the North Carolina Bar Association was founded at a meeting at the N.C. Supreme Court. Many leaders of the white supremacy campaign, massacre in Wilmington, and legislature responsible for the Jim Crow laws were members and founders on that day. The NCBA's founding constitution was filled with white supremacist policies and ideas including limiting membership to "any white person." These leaders and ideas had a profound impact on not only Black lawyers but on Black North Carolinians who lived daily under the weight of Jim Crow.
With this year marking the 125th anniversary of the 1898 coup d’état and massacre, and our annual meeting taking place in Wilmington on June 22–23, it is only fitting to focus our educational programming in ways that shine a light on an important part of both North Carolina's legal history, NCBA's history and the direct impact to generations of North Carolinians.
Contributors
Senior Resident Judge Carla Archie
Senior Resident Judge Carla
Archie is the Senior Resident Superior Court Judge for the 26th Judicial District of North Carolina in Mecklenburg County.
Judge Archie started her legal career as a prosecutor in Charlotte and was promoted to Chief Assistant District Attorney in charge of felony drug prosecutions. She then transitioned into commercial litigation as Vice President and Assistant General Counsel for Wachovia Corporation. She went on to serve as Deputy Executive Director and the first General Counsel of the North Carolina Education Lottery. Judge Archie then returned to her commercial litigation practice as Senior Counsel for Wells Fargo & Company, where she co-chaired the law department's diversity and inclusion committee.
In 2014, Judge Archie was elected to serve as a Resident Superior Court Judge for the 26th Judicial District of North Carolina. Over the years, she has been very active in the community as a member of the Junior League of Charlotte, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, The Links, Incorporated, and Friendship Missionary Baptist Church. She is a past president of the Mecklenburg County Bar and has served on the board of directors and in various leadership roles with the Charlotte Women's Bar, the John S. Leary Association of Black Lawyers, the Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy, the Triangle Urban League, and the STARS Math and English Academy.
Judge Archie has spent her life as a servant leader and path builder. She has been recognized as an outstanding alumna of Hampton University, as a Citizen Lawyer by William and Mary Law School, as a Julius Chambers Diversity Champion by the Mecklenburg County Bar, and as one of Charlotte's 50 most influential women by the Mecklenburg Times.
Judge Archie earned her B.S., summa cum laude, in Accounting from Hampton University and her J.D. from William & Mary Law School, where she was president of William and Mary's Black Law Student Association and spearheaded establishment of the Oliver Hill Scholarship which is now endowed to support minority law students at William and Mary. She has also earned her L.L.M from Duke University School of Law.
Click here for more information about Judge Archie.
Former Chief Justice Cheri L. Beasley
Former Chief Justice Cheri L. Beasley served as a judge for 22 years, including service as Chief Justice and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina. She served as Associate Judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals, and as a District Court Judge in the Twelfth Judicial District, Fayetteville, Cumberland County.
Chief Justice Beasley was the first African American woman elected to any statewide office in North Carolina without the benefit of incumbency or appointment by the Governor and the first African American woman to serve as Chief Justice in the Supreme Court of North Carolina's 200-year history.
Chief Justice Beasley frequently lectures on various topics in the law and performs community service to advocate for and mentor children and address hunger.
A graduate of Douglass College of Rutgers University and The University of Tennessee College of Law, Chief Justice Beasley also earned a LLM in Judicial Studies from Duke University School of Law. She has received two honorary doctorates, from North Carolina Central University and Fayetteville State University, respectively.
Click here for more information about Chief Justice Beasley.
Former Judge Charles L. Becton
Former Judge Charles L. Becton is an attorney, former judge of the North Carolina Court of Appeals, and former president of the North Carolina Bar Association (the first African American male to hold that post). In 2012–2013, he was the interim chancellor of North Carolina Central University following the retirement of Charlie Nelms. Then, shortly before he was due to complete that assignment, he was named interim chancellor of Elizabeth City State University following the retirement of Willie Gilchrist, effective July 1, 2013.
Governor Jim Hunt appointed Judge Becton to the North Carolina Court of Appeals in January 1981 to replace Richard Erwin. He was then elected to complete the remaining two years of the unexpired term in 1982 and elected in 1984 to a full eight-year term. He resigned in 1990 to go into private personal injury practice.
Judge Becton has also taught at the University of North Carolina School of Law and at Duke University School of Law.
A native of Morehead City, Judge Becton spent his formative years in Ayden. He earned his B.A. from Howard University, his J.D. from Duke University School of Law and his LLM from the University of Virginia School of Law.
Click here for more information about Judge Becton.
Ebony Freeland Bryant
Ebony Freeland Bryant is the Director of Diversity & Inclusion at the North Carolina Bar Association in Cary. She supports the diversity and inclusion initiatives of the NCBA and celebrates and promotes the richness of diversity among NCBA members, volunteers and employees.
Formerly, Ebony served as the Director of Diversity Initiatives at Duke University School of Law. Prior to her work at Duke, she worked at the National Association for College Admission Counseling in Professional Development and at her alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
Ebony's professional activities include the creation and direction of the Duke PreLaw Fellowship Program, a 4-week residential pipeline program that ran for five years and exposed almost 120 underrepresented college students to the rigors and requirements of law school and a career in law. She has given presentations and trainings on implicit bias, privilege and building community. She has served on the LSAC Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Pipeline Programs Work Group, the Duke Law DEI Faculty Committee, and as the Information Officer for the LSAC Minority Network.
Beginning in 2020, Ebony served as the president of the UNCW African American Graduate Association and a member of the UNCW Chancellor's Renewal & Change Committee to assist in addressing the university's response to the events of 2020 and beyond.
Ebony earned her B.A. in English Language and Literature, with a minor in African American Studies, from the University of North Carolina Wilmington.
U.S. Representative G. K.
Butterfield (Ret.) is Senior Advisor, Federal Public Affairs at McGuireWoods LLC in Washington, D.C. He is a former member of Congress, having represented North Carolina's first district for more than 18 years.
A native of Wilson, North Carolina, Congressman Butterfield has served his state and Nation for many years and in various capacities.
For most of his congressional career, Congressman Butterfield served on the influential Committee on Energy & Commerce. This committee has jurisdiction over issues involving energy distribution, renewable energy, health, telecommunications, environment, and consumer protection.
In November 2014, Congressman Butterfield was unanimously elected Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus for the 114th Congress. As chairman, he worked with President Barack Obama and his administration on legislation to address poverty, income inequality, and other economic justice issues.
In addition, Congressman Butterfield founded "CBC Tech 2020" to persuade Fortune 500 companies to diversify their Boards of Directors and include African Americans as senior c-Suite executives. CBC Tech 2020 also used its influence to encourage meaningful corporate partnerships with HBCUs. Under his leadership, he help recruit qualified African Americans for nomination to the federal bench. He also helped lead the effort to pass legislation to update the formula contained in Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Congressman Butterfield is the recipient of many, many citations and distinguished awards including honorary doctorate degrees from several Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
Congressman Butterfield earned his degree in Political Science and Sociology from North Carolina Central University and his J.D. from the NCCU School of Law. He has been a licensed attorney for 47 years.
Click here for more information about Congressman Butterfield.
Taylor M. Dewberry
Taylor M. Dewberry is an employment attorney and the Chief Diversity Officer at Smith Anderson Blount Dorsett Mitchell & Jernigan LLP in Raleigh. She joined Smith Anderson in 2017 and is an associate in Smith Anderson's Employment, Labor and Human Resources practice group. Her practice focuses on employment-related counseling and defending employers against claims involving discrimination, wrongful discharge, retaliation, harassment and civil rights claims. She has represented clients in state and federal courts and agencies throughout North Carolina.
Taylor's lifelong commitment to diversity efforts and background in employment law made her a perfect candidate to serve as the firm's first Chief Diversity Officer. In her Chief Diversity Officer role, she leads the firm's D&J efforts including Mansfield Rule certification, diversity mentorship programming, affinity groups, recruitment and retention efforts, and community commitments.
Taylor is a member of the American, North Carolina and Wake County Bar Associations and chair of the NCBA Young Lawyers Division Diversity and Inclusion Committee. She was awarded Best Lawyers®, "Ones to Watch," Labor and Employment Law – Management in 2022 and The National Black Lawyers Top 100, Top 40 Under 40 in 2020.
Taylor earned her J.D., cum laude from Washington University School of Law and her B.A,, with honors, in American Studies, with a minor in African-American Studies, from Stanford University.
Judge Ashleigh Parker Dunston is a District Court Judge in the 10th Judicial District, which encompasses Wake County, located in Raleigh. Prior to her appointment by Governor Roy Cooper, she served as an Assistant Attorney General at the North Carolina Department of Justice and as an Assistant District Attorney at the Wake County District Attorney's Office.
Judge Dunston is passionate about increasing equity within the criminal justice system and has written for multiple publications, including the North Carolina State Bar Journal and the Campbell Law Review on topics related to racism and sexism within the legal profession.
Judge Dunston earned her B.A. in Psychology from Wake Forest University and her J.D., cum laude, from North Carolina Central University School of Law. She has been practicing law since she was 24 years old. At age 30, Judge Dunston was only the 3rd and youngest African American female to hold this position in Wake County since the District Courts were established over 50 years ago.
Click here for more information about Judge Ashleigh.
Theodore C. "Ted" Edwards
Theodore C. "Ted" Edwards II is a principal at The Banks Law Firm PA in Durham. He focuses his practice on commercial litigation and is a certified mediator.
In 2006, Ted was awarded the William L. Thorpe Pro Bono Attorney Award by the North Carolina Bar Association, which recognizes attorneys who provide exceptional pro bono legal assistance to low-income citizens in North Carolina. In 2011, he was selected for the North Carolina Bar Association's Citizen Lawyer Award which honors attorneys for exemplary public service activities. In 2012, he served as President of the Wake County Bar Association. He is currently serving as a member of the North Carolina State Bar Council.
Ted graduated from Duke University with a double major in Political Science and Sociology and earned his J.D. from the Duke University School of Law.
Steven B. "Steve" Epstein is a partner with Poyner Spruill LLP in Raleigh. He has been a civil litigator for over 30 years, primarily as a defense lawyer for companies sued for allegedly defective products or damages arising from allegedly improperly performed services. He has sub-specialized in fire loss claims, having been involved in hundreds of matters in which the cause of a fire was the central issue.
In 2014, after nearly 25 years in practice, Steve also migrated into the area of family law, where he now advises clients and represents them in litigation regarding separation and divorce, child custody and support, alimony, equitable distribution, and alienation of affection. He began practicing family law following his own lengthy odyssey through the family court justice system.
Steve is a frequent CLE presenter on a wide range of litigation topics and is a certified arbitrator and parent coordinator. He is also the author of three true crime thrillers, Murder on Birchleaf Drive (June 2019), Evil at Lake Seminole (June 2020), and Extreme Punishment (October 2022), all published by Black Lyon Publishing LLC.
Steve earned his B.A., with highest honors, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his J.D., with highest honors, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law.
Peter Grear is a co-publisher, with his wife Kathy, of Greater Diversity News (GDN). He is also a practicing attorney focusing on personal injury, workers' compensation and social security disability. In 1997 he co-founded Partners for Economic Inclusion, a multi-racial economic development initiative of the 1898 Commemoration Committee.
Peter has received numerous recognitions and awards for his leadership and service.
Peter was born and raised in Wilmington where he attended public schools and graduated from Williston High. He earned his B.S. in History and Political Science from Fayetteville State University. From 1966 until 1970, he taught in the Craven County public school system. He earned his J.D. from Brooklyn Law School and in 1976 entered private practice in Wilmington.
Robert E. "Rob" Harrington is a member of Robinson Bradshaw & Hinson PA in Charlotte. He litigates complex business disputes. He represents corporate clients in a broad range of contracts, trade practice and other business matters.
Rob has served as lead counsel in cases in various jurisdictions, including the North Carolina Business Court and other state and federal courts in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Mississippi and Louisiana. He has represented and counseled clients in litigation and business matters across various industries, including financial services, manufacturing, agribusiness, telecommunications, sports and entertainment, health care and education.
Rob co-chairs the firm's Litigation Department. He served as president of the Mecklenburg County Bar, was appointed by the Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court to the North Carolina Commission on the Administration of Law and Justice and served as a member of the board of governors of the North Carolina Bar Association. For his professional work and civic engagement, North Carolina Lawyers Weekly recognized Rob as Lawyer of the Year in 2017 and Business North Carolina included him in its Power lists for 2020-23 and its inaugural Dynamic Diversity list in 2021.
Rob received his B.A., magna cum laude, from Duke University and his J.D., with high honors, from Duke University School of Law.
Jason M. Hensley began his service as Executive Director of the North Carolina Bar Association (NCBA) and the North Carolina Bar Foundation (NCBF) in January 2017. Previously, Jason served as in-house counsel for Bernhardt Furniture Company in Lenoir, NC – one of the largest and oldest privately owned furniture manufacturers in the United States. Jason advanced in responsibility at Bernhardt, beginning as Corporate Counsel in 2002 and becoming General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Director of Real Estate in 2015.
Prior to becoming Executive Director of the NCBA, Jason served in voluntary leadership positions with the NCBA, including Chair of the Corporate Counsel Section and as a member of the NCBA Board of Governors. He also served as a Commissioner on the Technology Committee of the recent North Carolina Commission on the Administration of Law and Justice.
Jason is a 1999 graduate in Operations Management from Appalachian State University (where he was the top graduate of the Walker School of Business); a 2002 graduate of the School of Law of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (where he served as Student Bar Association President); and he received an MBA from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2014.
Former Judge Lucy N. Inman is a Senior Counsel with Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman PLLC in Raleigh. She brings to Milberg wide ranging experience in civil litigation and more than a dozen years serving North Carolina as a trial and appellate judge. She focuses on the firm's appellate work.
From 2010 through 2014, Judge Inman served as a Superior Court judge in North Carolina, presiding in communities large and small. Of the thousands of rulings, she made in trials and hearings, seven were reversed on appeal. She won statewide election to the North Carolina Court of Appeals and served there from 2015 through 2022, authoring more than 450 appellate opinions, including decisions on issues of first impression in constitutional, criminal, civil, and administrative law. Fewer than three percent of her appellate opinions were reversed.
Judge Inman serves on the Judicial Independence Committee of the National Association of Women Judges. She has served in leadership roles in the North Carolina Bar Association and the North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys.
Judge Inman earned her J.D., with honors, from The University of North Carolina School of Law at Chapel Hill, where she served as an article's editor for The North Carolina Law Review. She clerked for Chief Justice Exum of the North Carolina Supreme Court and practiced civil litigation for 18 years, first in Los Angeles, then in Raleigh. Her first jury trial was covered gavel-to-gavel on Court TV. She has represented businesses, celebrities, death row inmates, and survivors of negligence, fraud, and sexual abuse,
Click here for more information about Judge Inman.
Kenneth W. "Ken" Lewis
Kenneth W. "Ken" Lewis is a shareholder with Maynard Nexsen in Raleigh. He has over three decades of experience in a wide range of corporate, transactional, and securities matters. He represents clients in mergers, acquisitions, and sales of businesses and in the formation of strategic alliances. He is also well-versed in domestic and international commercial transactions and has advised clients in all aspects of corporate and real estate finance, including representing lenders, borrowers, and investors in negotiating and documenting debt and equity transactions.
Ken's clients have included businesses in the financial services, technology, life sciences, health care, insurance, sports and entertainment, manufacturing, and distribution sectors.
In 2010, Ken was a candidate in North Carolina for the United States Senate. Before that, he was a partner at two large law firms in North Carolina and the co-founder of a boutique law firm in Raleigh and Durham. He began his legal career as a law clerk for Associate Justice Henry E. Frye of the North Carolina Supreme Court.
Ken is a member of the American, National and North Carolina Bar Associations.
Ken earned his A.B. from Duke University and his J.D.from Harvard Law School.
Eric C. Michaux is Chairman of the Board and President of Union Insurance and Realty Company, Glennview Memorial Park Inc, and President of the law firm of Michaux and Michaux PA in Durham. He has over 50 years of experience in general practice law.
Eric is a member of the American Bar Association, Association of Trial Lawyers of America, National Bar Association, George White Bar Association, North Carolina Association of Black Lawyers, North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers, North Carolina Bar Association, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Eric earned his B.S. from Boston University and his LL.B. from Duke University School of Law.
Richard A. Paschal, Ph.D.
Richard A. Paschal, Ph.D. is an associate attorney in Tharrington Smith's Education Section in Raleigh.
After earning his undergraduate degree in history and political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Richard earned both a master's degree and a law degree from the University of Virginia, where he was Articles Editor for the Virginia Law Review and was awarded the Davis Prize in Constitutional Law.
After working as a judicial clerk for a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and then as an associate in Washington, DC, Richard earned his Ph.D. from The Johns Hopkins University in 2006. He then taught American legal and constitutional history over the next ten years at the George Mason University School of Law and then, at the Campbell University School of Law. Since then, he has been back in the courtroom, advising and litigating on behalf of public-school boards and clients in federal, state courts and OAH.
Richard is currently a member of the North Carolina Council of School Attorneys, the National Council of School Attorneys, and the Education Law Section of the North Carolina Bar Association.
Richard is the author of the book, Jim Crow in North Carolina: The Legislative Program from 1865 to 1920 (2021). He volunteers with Legal Aid of North Carolina.
Donyell L. Roseboro, Ph.D. is Chief Diversity Officer and a Professor in the Watson College of Education at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. She served as a high school social studies teacher for five years in Winston-Salem prior to completing her doctoral degree and entering Southern Illinois University Edwardsville as a faculty member.
Donyell has over 30 publications focused on race, gender, and equity in public education, including a forthcoming journal article (with Lisa Buchanan, Cara Ward, and Denise Ousley) in Social Studies Education entitled "An Interdisciplinary Study of Racial Violence through Place in Grades 3-12" and a recent book chapter entitled "Dismantling the Architecture of 'Good' Teaching". She also has over $1 million in external grant funding with colleagues, the bulk of which has been funded through various components of the Fulbright program.
Donyell earned her B.A. in Secondary Education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, her M.A. in History from Wake Forest University and her Ph.D. in Curriculum & Teaching/Cultural Studies from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.