Floyd McKissick

Floyd Bixler McKissick (March 9, 1922 – April 28, 1991) was an American lawyer and civil rights activist.

He became the first African-American student at the University of North Carolina School of Law.

Floyd Bixler McKissick Sr. was born in Asheville, North Carolina, on March 9, 1922.

He was the only son and one of four children of Ernest Boyce and Magnolia Thompson McKissick.

He was named for a friend of his father, Floyd S. Bixler.

When he was 13 years of age, McKissick was a member of a Boy Scout troop.

The troop sponsored a skating tournament on a street in Asheville, and McKissick was assigned to look after the younger participants.

When one of the children strayed into an adjacent street, McKissick followed him and brought him back to the starting line.

Two police officers who had witnessed this began chastising McKissick.

When he tried to explain what had happened, one of the officers slapped him.

He continued trying to explain what had occurred, and when the officer attempted to strike him with his nightstick, McKissick deflected the blow with his skates, knocking The Stick out of the officers' hands.

McKissick was arrested and put on trial two weeks later.

McKissick's father lied to the judge, telling him he had punished his son for his behavior, and the case was dismissed.

As a result of the incident, McKissick resolved to become a lawyer, and shortly thereafter joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

McKissick stated, "I've been active in North Carolina politics I think since I was about sixteen or seventeen, in high school."

One of his early protests was in his hometown, Asheville, because the city refused to permit actor Paul Robeson to speak in the city auditorium in the 1930s.

He graduated from high school in 1939, and in 1940 went to Atlanta to attend Morehouse College.

After enrolling at Morehouse, McKissick joined the U.S. Army and during World War II he served in the European Theater as a sergeant.

He participated in the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation, an attempt by activists to integrate interstate bus travel in the South.

After the war, he returned to Morehouse College where he graduated in 1948.

McKissick returned home from his service oversees inspired by postwar reconstruction efforts in Europe and increasingly aggrieved by blacks' lack of standing in American society, despite their contribution to the war effort.

The following year he joined the Progressive Party supported Henry Wallace's 1948 presidential campaign.

After graduating from Morehouse in 1948, McKissick decided to pursue a career in law.

He returned to his native state North Carolina, and applied to the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Law.

He was subsequently denied admission because of his race.

After his denial, he enrolled in North Carolina College (NCC) School of Law, now North Carolina Central University (NCCU), in Durham, North Carolina, which was the law school for blacks.

While in NCC's Law School, the NAACP accepted McKissick's case, and filed a lawsuit against UNC School of Law.

Thurgood Marshall led the NAACP defense.

In 1951, a ruling by the United States Court of Appeals allowed McKissick and three other students admission to UNC's School of Law.

At the time of the ruling, McKissick had nearly finished his law degree from NCC, but he took courses at UNC School of Law during the summer of 1951.

McKissick was in the first group of black students to be admitted at UNC School of Law.

In 1955, McKissick established a law firm in Durham.

In 1957, McKissick along with Nathan White Sr. headed the Durham Committee on Negro Affairs' Economic Committee, developed plans to boycott the Royal Ice Cream Parlor in Durham.

Under the leadership of McKissick, twenty high school NAACP members acted in regular pickets outside of the Royal Ice Cream Parlor.

In 1966 he became leader of CORE, the Congress of Racial Equality, taking over from James Farmer.

A supporter of Black Power, he turned CORE into a more radical movement.

In 1968, McKissick left CORE to found Soul City in Warren County, North Carolina.

He was an active Republican and endorsed Richard Nixon for president that year, and the federal government, under President Nixon, supported Soul City.

He became a state district court judge in 1990 and died on April 28, 1991.

Politician and attorney Floyd McKissick Jr.., is his son.