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Judge Elreta Alexander and Civil Rights Advocacy in Greensboro, North Carolina

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Judge Elreta Alexander and Civil Rights Advocacy in Greensboro, North Carolina SUMMEY, VIRGINIA LYNDSAY, Ph.D. Fighting Within the Bar: Judge Elreta Alexander and Civil Rights Advocacy in Greensboro, North Carolina. (2017) Directed by Dr. Charles Bolton. 279 pp. Elreta Melton Alexander (1919–1998) was a pioneering African-American attorney from Greensboro, North Carolina. Coming of age during the Jim Crow period of the South, she was the daughter of a Baptist minister and a teacher, and grew up in a black middle class community. The descendant of two white grandparents, her bi- racialism formed her early awareness of colorism within the African-American community. Alexander received her Bachelor of Arts from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical University before going on to become the first African-American woman to graduate from Columbia Law School in 1945. In 1947, she became the first African- American woman to be admitted to the North Carolina bar. Her husband, Dr. Girardeau “Tony” Alexander was a prominent surgeon at L. Richardson Hospital, the segregated hospital for African Americans in Greensboro. Their marriage, which lasted thirty years, was often troubled, with domestic violence, infidelity, and alcoholism, ending in divorce in 1968. After establishing her practice in Greensboro, Alexander became a successful attorney. In 1964, she defended Charles Yoes, who stood with three other men accused of raping a white woman, Mary Lou Marion. The trial went on to become the longest criminal trial in Guilford County court history at the time, and changed the county’s jury selection procedures. In 1968, Alexander became the first African-American woman to become an elected district court judge. During her tenure she created the controversial Judgment Day program, aimed at rehabilitating young, first-time offenders. In 1974, Alexander ran for North Carolina Supreme Court chief justice, losing in the Republican primary to James Newcomb, a white, fire-extinguisher salesman. Newcomb went on to lose to Democrat Susie Sharp, who became the first elected female state Supreme Court chief justice in the country. Alexander’s loss prompted changes to North Carolina judicial election requirements. Through it all, Alexander remained devoted to her only son, Girardeau, III, who suffered from schizophrenia. While not a well-known figure in the Civil Rights Movement, this dissertation offers a new perspective on civil rights leadership. Alexander was more than a judge to those she interacted with; she was also a teacher who integrated her commitment to civil rights in everything she did. As Alexander said, “Every case to me was a civil rights case.” This work contends Alexander dedicated her career to civil rights and challenging the status quo of the segregationist South through performative leadership and using her professional standing to advocate for marginalized individuals who lacked a voice in the southern legal system. FIGHTING WITHIN THE BAR: JUDGE ELRETA ALEXANDER AND CIVIL RIGHTS ADVOCACY IN GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA by Virginia Lyndsay Summey A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Greensboro 2017 Approved by Committee Chair © 2017 Virginia Lyndsay Summey APPROVAL PAGE This dissertation, written by Virginia Lyndsay Summey, has been approved by the following committee of the Faculty of The Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Committee Chair Charles Bolton Committee Members Greg O’Brien Omar Ali Anya Jabour October 18, 2017 Date of Acceptance by Committee October 18, 2017 Date of Final Oral Examination ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, I would have never made it this far without the solid educational foundation I received at Catawba College as an undergraduate. Drs. Gary Freeze and Michael Bitzer have become lifelong advisors, for which I am eternally grateful. This dissertation started as my Master’s Thesis at the University of Montana, where Dr. Tobin Miller Shearer served on my committee. I continue to be in awe of his work as a scholar and as a fierce advocate of racial equality. His contribution to what became this dissertation is invaluable. Dr. Anya Jabour has been an integral part of this project as my MA advisor, and then a member of my dissertation committee. None of this would have been possible without her. While at Montana, I also benefited from access to their law library, which I navigated with the help of John Mudd. Mudd also helped me decipher some of the complicated legal jargon I encountered in my work, and his friendship and support has seen me through good times and bad. When I arrived at UNCG, I immediately had the benefit of being a part of the best cohort a grad student could ask for. Hannah Dudley Shotwell, Justina Licata, Jamie Mize, and Joseph Ross have been there professionally and personally through amazing highs and unimaginable lows. Steven Peach, Monica Ward, and Brian Suttell have been my extended cohort, and I cherish you all. I have completed this dissertation because of the resources available at UNCG. Thank you in particular to Laura Drew in the graduate school for putting together writing retreats which in no small way enabled me to finish my work. While at the writing iii retreats Drs. Paul Silvia and Anne Parsons served as generous editors and sounding boards. Erin Lawimore and the staff at the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections aided me in accessing Elreta Alexander’s papers and continue to care for them so her voice and legacy will be preserved. Dr. Mark Elliott and the participants of his dissertation writing group have read and edited almost every chapter here. Every doctoral candidate should be so lucky. And Dawn Avolio, Kristina Wright, and Laurie O’Neil not only keep the history department running, but have personally kept me on top of deadlines and paperwork in addition to becoming wonderful friends. As with any dissertation, a considerable amount of research went into examining and contextualizing Elreta Alexander’s life. Thank you to the kind staff at the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which houses the Southern Historical and North Carolina Collections. Thank you to Jocelyn Wilk at the Columbia University archives and to Sabrina Sondhi at the Arthur W. Diamond Law Library at Columbia who researched, scanned, and emailed me documents when I could not travel to New York. Todd Johnson at the Johnston County Historical Society and Linda Evans at the Greensboro Historical Museum have also been generous with their time and resources, which has been tremendously helpful. I thoroughly enjoyed talking with Afrique Kilimanjaro, who provided me access to decades of editions of the Carolina Peacemaker. And Steven Case and the staff at the North Carolina State Archives graciously kept Supreme Court records on hold for an entire summer so they would be available when I traveled to Raleigh. iv Several people have been gracious enough to sit down with me to discuss their memories of Elreta Alexander. Her profound impact on civil rights and the legal community lives on in the memories of Justice Henry Frye, Justice Patricia Timmons- Goodson, Donald Speckhard, Gerald Pell, Karen Bethea Shields, F. Lee Bailey, and Rufus Edmisten. Thank you all for your time and sharing your thoughts. I have been blessed with a dissertation committee that has been supportive and encouraging, critical and demanding, and always held me to the highest of standards. To Drs. Greg O’Brien, Omar Ali, Anya Jabour, and especially my committee chair Charles Bolton: I could never express the depth of my gratitude. You all signed on to this project when others did not and made it possible. You have all shaped me into a scholar, and will always serve as inspirations and mentors. Yet it is perhaps those in my personal life who have sacrificed and given of their time more than anybody. My beloved dog, Grits, has been by my side—usually snoring—as I’ve written almost every page. The toughest writing blocks have been overcome during our walks. My parents, Billy and Sally, always emphasized the importance of education and sacrificed to make sure I received one. I formulated my lofty educational goals as a young girl exploring the gothic west campus of Duke University with my father while he himself was a graduate student. And of course my mom is the one person who I always know will read my work. And most importantly, to my husband Graham Abee: you have lived with Elreta Alexander almost as much as I v have. Your love, support, and patience cannot be measured. I love you, and am excited to embark on the next chapter of our lives together. Finally, in memory of Nichole Mikko-Causby. The dreams we shared are embedded in every page of this work. You are forever missed. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................1 II. A RESPECTABLE CHILDHOOD ....................................................................24 III. BETWEEN TWO WORLDS .............................................................................71 IV. CHARLES D. YOES V. THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA ..................118 V. A RELUCTANT PIONEER? ...........................................................................161 VI. ATTEMPTING THE IMPOSSIBLE ................................................................208
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