Black History Makers: The Nabrit Brothers

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Among Black families of historical note, few can compare to the Nabrit family in terms of breaking civil rights and educational barriers during their lives.

Attorney James Nabrit, Jr. (left), and Dr. Samuel Nabrit

James and Samuel Nabrit were born near Macon, Georgia, the sons of Reverend James Nabrit, Sr. and his wife, Augusta.  Their father, James, only one generation removed from slavery, was well educated in the liberal arts and personally instructed his sons in science, Latin, and Greek from a very early age.

James Nabrit, the elder brother, graduated from Morehouse College in 1923 and later graduated Northwestern University’s School of law in 1927.  Following law school, James, Jr. moved to Texas, where he taught school and opened a law practice in Houston.  In 1936, James, Jr. joined the faculty of the Howard University Law School, where he subsequently teamed with its famous Dean, Charles Hamilton Houston, and then Attorney Thurgood Marshall in drafting litigation to test legal segregation in the courts.  Among his notable victories included Boling vs. Sharpe, a pivotal case that tested segregation in the District of Columbia’s public schools.  The Bolling case was eventually decided on May 17, 1954—the same day as Brown vs. Board of Education—when the United States Supreme Court ordered integration “with all deliberate speed.”

In 1960, James, Jr. was named president of Howard University, where he would remain until 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him deputy ambassador to the United Nations Security Council—a post that he would hold until 1967.  Nabrit returned to the Howard presidency for the 1968-69 school term, when he resigned amid pressure after expelling a number of student protesters.

The younger Nabrit brother, Samuel, graduated from Morehouse College in 1925 and after earning a master’s degree in biology from Brown University, became the first Black person to earn a PhD from that Ivy League institution as well.

Dr. Nabrit then returned to Morehouse, where he became a professor of zoology and chair of the Biology Department.  He subsequently became chairman of Atlanta University’s Biology Department in 1932, and dean of its Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1947.  During the interim, Nabrit’s dedication to research afforded him membership in the Marine Biological Laboratory Corporation—the second Black person to earn such distinction.  Published widely, Dr. Nabrit was also lauded for encouraging his Morehouse and Atlanta University students to pursue doctoral work and many did so, including four of his former Morehouse pupils who followed in his footsteps by earning doctorates from Brown University.

In 1955, Dr. Nabrit was named president of Texas Southern University, a position that he maintained until 1966.  Nabrit also was appointed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to the National Science Board in 1956 and ten years later, President Johnson appointed him to the United States Atomic Energy Commission.

Blessed with long, distinguished lives in which they impacted the legal and educational welfare of so many, James Nabrit died in 1997 at the age of 97; Samuel died in 2003 at the age of 98.

Lest we forget…