Henry Frye

February 3, 1983, Henry Frye became the first African American to serve on the North Carolina Supreme Court!

Henry Frye: Was The First African-American On The N.C. Supreme Court

Photograph: Henry Frye being sworn into the N.C. Supreme Court.
( State Archives, courtesy of the News & Observer)

Henry Frye was born August 1, 1932 in Ellerbe, Richmond County, North Carolina. He was 8th of 12 children, born to Walter Atlas and Pearl Motley Frye. He went to the Ellerbe Colored High School, but by accident he obtained a diploma from Ellerbe High School, the white one. After graduating with honors from North Carolina A&T State University, Frye reached the rank of captain in the United States Air Force, serving in Korea and Japan. Upon returning to North Carolina, Frye was inspired to become a lawyer when he was denied the ability to register to vote by Jim crow racist "literacy" tests. He graduated from the University of North Carolina School of Law.

Frye became an assistant U.S. Attorney in 1963, one of the first African-Americans to hold such a position in the South. When Frye was elected to the North Carolina General Assembly as a state representative in 1968, he was the only black North Carolina legislator, and the first elected in the 20th century. Frye helped eliminate the vestiges of Jim Crow from North Carolina law. He was re-elected several times to the state House, serving until 1980, and served one term in the state Senate from 1981 to 1982. During this time, he was also an instructor at North Carolina Central University's law school.

In 1983, Governor Jim Hunt appointed Frye to the North Carolina Supreme Court as an associate justice, the first African-American to hold that position in North Carolina history. Elected in 1984 to the court and re-elected in 1992, Jim Hunt appointed Frye to the state's highest judicial post, chief justice, in 1999 to replace the retiring Burley Mitchell. He was defeated for election to a full term in 2000 by Associate Justice I. Beverly Lake.

Frye currently practices law with Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard in Greensboro, North Carolina

Married to Shirley Taylor on August 25, 1956. they had two children.
One of Frye's children, Henry Frye Jr., also became a lawyer and judge. Frye is the uncle of professional basketball player Channing Frye.