Recognizing the 75th Anniversary of the Old Dominion Bar

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 75th Anniversary of the Old Dominion Bar Association (ODBA), of which I am proud to be a member. Members will be gathering next week in Glen Allen, Virginia for their annual conference and to celebrate this historic milestone.

The ODBA traces its history to a December 1940 incident where an African American lawyer was asked to move to another section of the law library of the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. Frederic Charles Carter, Esq. was working in the law library when he was ordered to move to another section because of an alleged new Supreme Court policy limiting African American attorneys to a specific section of the law
library. Carter refused to move and the head librarian summoned a police officer to demand Carter see him in his office. Carter later inquired in a letter to the Chief Justice whether the court had indeed issued a new policy relegating African American lawyers to a special section of the law library.

Several months passed with no response from the Court, so Carter began reaching out to fellow African American Attorneys in the Commonwealth of Virginia, including R. H. Cooley, Jr. of Petersburg. Cooley also contacted colleagues in Norfolk, Newport News, and Portsmouth, as well as at the Howard University School of Law, to discuss the need to organize a bar association in Virginia specifically for African American attorneys.

Throughout 1941, Cooley and the following individuals met to organize the ODBA: J. Thomas Hewin, Sr., Roland D. Ealey, James T. Carter, Fredric Charles Carter, J. Byron Hopkins and Oliver W. Hill of
Richmond; W. S. Duiguid of Lynchburg; Martin A. Martin of Danville; Thomas W. Young and J. Eugene Diggs of Norfolk; James Raby of Alexandria; and L. Marian Poe of Newport News.

The organizational meeting for the ODBA was set for April 12, 1942 in Richmond. Twenty-five attorneys attended the organizational meeting where they elected their inaugural officers: Oliver W. Hill, President; L. Marian Poe, Secretary; Martin A. Martin, Vice-President; and James M. Morris (of Staunton), Treasurer.

On May 21, 1942, the new association met again to adopt their constitution and set an annual membership fee of $4.50. Some balked at the cost which prompted Oliver Hill to include the following message on organization notices: ``If you are very, very busy--we need you. If you don't think you can afford it, you need us.''

As America became increasingly involved in World War II, many ODBA members, including its president Oliver W. Hill, entered military service to fight for our nation overseas. It was during this time that R. H. Cooley, Jr. became the organization's acting president. Throughout the war, he urged all members to ``keep abreast with service legislation in order to aid men and women in uniform and their families in matters pertaining to insurance, dependency allotments and any other phases necessary to solve their perplexing problems.'' Cooley also urged association members to help returning veterans, including volunteering their legal services when necessary.

By the war's end, there were forty-four active members of the association all across the Commonwealth, with local groups of ODBA members established in Richmond, on the Virginia Peninsula, in South Hampton Roads, and in Northern Virginia.

Originally organized to confront a discriminatory policy that offended the personal and professional dignity of members of the Virginia Bar, it has grown into an essential professional organization for African American attorneys practicing law in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It has not only provided positive professional relationships for its members and trained them to be effective advocates for their clients, but has also broken down barriers to membership and full participation for African American attorneys statewide and in the local bar associations and to their election as judges throughout Virginia. Moreover, its members have led the effort to desegregate America in all areas of public and private life, including education, employment, housing, and public accommodations.

Today, the ODBA continues its strong legacy of pursuing justice and ensuring its member lawyers hold themselves to the highest level of professional skill and conduct. The association holds numerous
professional development seminars annually. And its members are very active in other national, state and local bar associations, as well as their local communities in general through community service and active
civic engagement.

Mr. Speaker, as the Old Dominion Bar Association gathers in Glen Allen next week for its annual meeting, I wish to congratulate the association's current president, Helivi L. Holland, Esq., and all its
members, past and present, on this 75th anniversary and thank them for all that they have done and continue to do on behalf of the legal profession and the

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