Feature on Henry Frye: 2002

Broad: Molly Corbett Broad, President, University of North Carolina
Capel: Felton Capel, High School Friend
Frye: Henry Frye, NC Supreme Court Chief Justice 1999-2000
Buie: Sampson Buie, NC A&T University Class of 1952
Blum: Robert Blum, UNC School of Law Class of 1959
Ruffin: Ben Ruffin, Former Chairman, UNC Board of Governors
Whichard: Willis Whichard, NC Representative 1970-1974
Ross: Tom Ross, Executive Director, Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation

Anchor: Each year the University of North Carolina Board of Governors honors special North Carolinians who have made significant contributions to higher education in the state. This year’s award honors two North Carolina men. One is Former State Supreme Court Chief Justice Henry Frye. According to University officials, Frye has spent his life breaking barriers while being a role model for the university community.

Broad: Henry Frye is a man of firsts. He was the first African American to complete a full law degree at UNC-CH School of Law. He was the first African American elected to the General Assembly in the 20^th Century…in a post reconstruction era. He was the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court leading ultimately to being the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He is a man who got those firsts by a lot of determination and by a commitment to education.

Anchor: Henry Frye grew up in the small North Carolina town of Ellerbe….where as early as the eighth grade, friends say it was clear he was a leader.

Capel: We met in school. Henry was sort of the dominant figure from the time that I first met him in school in Ellerbe. A young man that seemed to be more or less a designated leader and looked up to by all the students.

Anchor: During high school Frye made a trip to North Carolina Agricultural &Technical University…. A visit he would remember when the time came to choose a college.

Frye: I sent for bulletins of such places as Harvard and Yale and the University of NC and those others. But I knew I had no chance of going to any of them, but I looked at them. In those days in NC, blacks went to black schools. Whites went to white schools. I picked A&T primarily because of my relationship before having visited it and been impressed by A&T.

Buie: Henry was a very unique young man on the campus of A&T. He had what I since learned was a budding quality of leadership.

Anchor: Frye graduated Summa Cum Laude from A&T in 1953. Like many of his classmates, he then joined the military. As an air force captain, he spent time in Japan and Korea. But when he finished his tour of duty, Frye returned home and decided to enroll in the University of North Carolina School of Law.

Frye: At A&T, we were 99.44% black. At Carolina, we were 99.44% white. So I was very distinct minority. At this time I had been in the service for several years. So I had a lot of experience with various things having worked prior to that time also. My interest was in going to class, getting my studies and making the grades and coming out and passing the bar exam.

Blum: And you have to remember that these were the days before integration, which primarily took place in the 1960s and this was 1956- 1959. And Henry was a real trailblazer and he did it extraordinarily well.

Ruffin: A lot of people weren’t ready for it. Which meant that he had to be ready for them because he had to endure. Not only did he have to endure, but he had to excel. He had to compete and he had to compete on a different level. He really had to be a little bit better to make it. And he was and he made it with a smile.

Anchor: In 1959, Frye became the first African American to finish all three years of law school at UNC. He started his own private practice and set his sights on politics.

Frye: I looked at the legislature and it was all white. And we had several blacks who had run for the legislature and they were always defeated. And I said, well, let me see if I can do it. I talked with a lot of people, got encouragement and ran and lost in 66. Then I wasn’t going to be defeated so I started getting ready for 68.

Anchor: And this time Frye won, becoming the first African American in the 1900s to be elected to the North Carolina general assembly.

Buie: When Henry began to run, people became interested. And when he won the first election, people could see that one way that we could be certain that we could have input in the decisions that affect our lives is to get more people involved in government…especially at the state level.

Anchor: In all, Frye served 12 years in the North Carolina House of Representatives and two years in the state Senate. Something he now finds ironic given that at one time he was excluded form the political process due to the state’s stringent voting laws.

Frye: This was after I had been denied the right to register and vote because I couldn’t pass a literacy test that only required you to be able read and write any section of the constitution to the satisfaction of the registar.

Whichard: I think there was a sense that he was a pioneer. That he represented something in the society and its history much bigger than himself or any one individual. And I consider him the leading African American citizen of this state to this day.

Anchor: In 1983, Frye made state history once again… by being the first African American appointed to sit on the state supreme court. The appointment was made by Governor Jim Hunt… who called on Frye again in 1999 by appointing him as the first African American to serve as Chief Justice of the court.

Ross: He was firsts in lots of things like that, but you know I don’t think that’s really the mark. I think the mark is that he has just been exceptional in all of those and has contributed to North Carolina’s history in so many wonderful ways.

Ruffin: He probably went further in life than he ever thought about going. I mean, you couldn’t think about being a chief justice coming from Ellerbe, NC. You could not dream that you would be the first African American elected since reconstruction to the General Assembly in North Carolina.

Broad: He has been a fabulous role model for the students, especially at NC A&T, but all of our historically black universities. They look to Judge Frye as the model of accomplishment that each and every one of them can achieve. When they think about the obstacles that he has overcome, it is inspiring to them. And he has helped by rolling up his sleeve, by raising money, serving on various committees, helping with various projects. He has been willing to be a hands-on person and then of course, he’s actually been on the faculty at NC Central and also at NC A&T.

Ross: He is one of the warmest human beings I think I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.

Ross: I don’t know anybody who walks away from a relationship with Henry that doesn’t feel that they’ve been blessed to have known him.