ROCKINGHAM — One resident is advocating for more local recognition of Richmond County’s most prominent jurist.
During the public comment portions at the meetings of both the Richmond County Board of Commissioners and the Rockingham City Council, Gerard Morrison suggested naming the Richmond County Judicial Center — or at least one of the courtrooms — after former N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Henry Frye.
Frye was born in Ellerbe in 1932 and graduated from high school before attending N.C. Agricultural & Technical University, where he graduated summa cum laude in 1953.
Having been in the Reserve Officer Training Corps in college, Frye was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force.
Frye’s inspiration to become a lawyer came after he was denied the right to vote after failing the literacy test. He graduated with honors from the UNC School of Law and ran his own practice from 1959-1963.
In 1963, Frye became one of the South’s first federal prosecutors as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina.
Frye went on to serve in the N.C. House of Representatives from 1969-1981, becoming the only Black legislator at the time and the first in the 20th century. In his first year, Frye introduced a bill to remove the literacy test from the state constitution, but the amendment failed at the ballot.
Following his time in the House, Frye served in the N.C. Senate from ‘81-’83 before being appointed by then-Gov. Jim Hunt as an associate justice on the state Supreme Court, the first African-American to hold the position.
Frye made history again in 1999 when he became the first Black chief justice, following another appointment by Hunt.
Being chief justice, Morrison said, was "equivalent to governor” in the judicial branch “of the three branches of government.”
After three decades in public service, Frye went into private practice and taught as an adjunct and visiting professor at both N.C. Central University Law School and his alma mater N.C. A&T.
In 2018, Frye was honored by having an overpass bridge named after him on Green Lake Road in his hometown, and with a scholarship at UNC School of Law.
During his comments at the county meeting, Morrison said he’d also like to see an exploratory committee for a Richmond County African-American Historic Preservation Trail.
“Unfortantely, a lot of African-American contributions and women’s contributions haven’t been documented,” Morrison said. “So we want to make sure we raise the bar and set the standard.”
