The death of Charlotte civil rights lawyer Julius Chambers gives us the opportunity and, perhaps, the responsibility to reflect upon his importance as a public figure. Simply put, Chambers’ work and the work of others he inspired are directly responsible for North Carolina casting off a culture of segregation and repression and replacing it with one of inclusion and opportunity.

That said, his passing brought to my mind many personal memories.

I remember the first time I heard Chambers’ name more than 50 years ago. In 1962, as a student at Davidson College, still all male, all white, I heard a radio report saying that a Negro law student at the University of North Carolina School of Law had been appointed editor of the Law Review and had the highest grades in his class. I never forgot his name. From that moment on I understood that blacks could not only be just as good lawyers or law students as whites, they could be better, much better.

Six years later I got to meet Chambers for the first time. It was the spring of 1968 and I was in my last year at Yale Law School when I learned that he had started an integrated law firm in Charlotte. So I decided to come back to North Carolina to knock on Chambers’ door and visit other law firms.

I started in Raleigh where I got my friend John McConnell to introduce me to people in his law firm, Broughton and Broughton. Everyone there was busy working on Mel Broughton’s campaign for governor in the upcoming Democratic primary.

Then, thanks to a good friend’s dad, W. W. Taylor, Jr., I visited his firm, Maupin, Taylor, and Ellis, where I got a warm welcome. But after waiting a long time to see Mr. Ellis, I learned that he was meeting with Jesse Helms about a political campaign, probably Mel Broughton’s.

In Charlotte, my friend, Ross Smyth, got me an invitation to visit Kennedy, Covington, Lobdell, and Hickman. Marcus Hickman invited me into his office to talk. Before we got started, he took a telephone call. For a long time, he counseled Jack Stickley, who was a gubernatorial candidate in the Republican primary. That talk went on for a half an hour before Hickman had a chance to look me over.

Later that day, I walked down East Trade Street. to visit the Chambers law firm in a walk-up office above pawn shops and low-end clothing stores. Chambers’ partner, Adam Stein, greeted me and sat me down outside Chambers’ office. I watched and listened through an open door as Chambers gave Dr. Reginald Hawkins advice about his Democratic gubernatorial primary campaign. After a long while, he motioned for me to come in, and we spent a few minutes talking about his hopes for his law firm and for the community’s future.

Neither Broughton, nor Stickley, nor Hawkins won their primary elections. I returned to law school without an offer from any of the firms I visited.

But the glimpse I got of lawyers and their political lives demonstrated that North Carolina was going to be a very interesting place for me to live and work.

A month later, Marcus Hickman’s firm gave me an offer that led to 20 happy and fulfilling years of law practice with that group.

It took Julius Chambers 30 years to offer me a job. While serving as chancellor of North Carolina Central University, he asked me to serve a short time as a vice chancellor. It gave me the chance to experience up close his determined work ethic and hard-driving, demanding leadership style, together with the quiet authority his service and success had earned him.

For these memories and the better North Carolina he left us, I will always be grateful to Julius Chambers.

Last week’s column got quite a bit of attention. In case you missed it, here are some links to reports about it:

http://www.wral.com/ncgop-seeks-ouster-of-unc-tv-host/12734835/

http://projects.newsobserver.com/node/28142

https://chapelboro.com/news/state-government/martin-it-wont-affect-the-way-i-write/

D.G. Martin’s 97.9FM WCHL show runs on Saturday and Sunday at 5 a.m. and 6 a.m., noon and 1 p.m, and 9 p.m. and 11 p.m (archives for his show can be found here). You can find D.G.’s WCHL notebook audio here, as well as all of his Chapelboro.com columns here.

D.G. Martin hosts “North Carolina Bookwatch,” which airs Sundays at noon and Thursdays at 5 p.m. on UNC-TV. For more information or to view prior programs visit the webpage at www.unctv.org/ncbookwatch.

This week’s (August 11, 15) guest is Wiley Cash author of “A Land More Kind than Home.”

Gastonia native Wiley Cash exploded on to the national literary scene with his debut novel, “A Land More Kind than Home.” Readers meet a storefront, snake-handling preacher who turns out to be one of the most complicated and interesting villains I have ever encountered in fiction.  Reacting to this pastor, one member to the congregation says, “I’d seen people I’d known just about my whole life pick up snakes and drink poison, put fire up to their faces just to see if it would burn them. Holy people, too. God-fearing folks that hadn’t ever acted like that a day in their lives. But Chambliss convinced them it was safe to challenge the will of God.”

The program will also air at Wednesday August 14 at 11 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on UNC-MX, a digital cable system channel (Time Warner #172 or #4.4). In addition, airing at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday on UNC-MX will be a classic Bookwatch program featuring Chuck Stone, author of “Squizzy the Black Squirrel.”

A grant from the North Carolina Humanities Council provides crucial support for North Carolina Bookwatch.