Henry Frye has many ‘firsts’ to his long list of titles but being the first Black Chief Justice of North Carolina takes the top spot. With this feat, he began work towards achieving, right from the Jim Crow era where black people had no rights in the United States of America.
Wherever he went and whatever he set his mind to achieve, Frye conquered and achieved. This trait, he passed down to his kids, one of whom is Henry Frye Jr., a lawyer and Judge. His wife is no less of a trailblazer in her own rights, too.
Due to his undeniable contribution to civil rights and engagement as well as social justice in North Carolina, 92-year-old Frye has received a lot of honors. Some of these include a North Carolina Award for Public Service, an honorary co-chairman of the U.S. Senate campaign, as well as a bridge named after him.
Brief Bio About Henry Frye
North Carolina’s first black chief justice was born on August 1, 1932, in Richmond County, North Carolina. His parents were Walter Atlas and Pearl Motley Frye who owned a tobacco and cotton farmland and so were farmers.
Henry Frye was the 8th child of his parents and he attended Ellerbe Colored High School. The school was specifically for black kids as they were not allowed to mingle with white children in schools and other corporate places.
In spite of this, kids, both colored and white, mingled outside the school, especially on farmlands and they also played together in some places.
In the 1940s, Henry moved from Ellerbe Colored High School after earning a diploma. According to his Wikipedia page, he was awarded an accidental diploma from Ellerbe High School, the white one.
Upon earning his diploma, Frye went on to North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. The school is mostly referred to as North Carolina A&T State University or just North Carolina A&T.
At the university, the young man studied Biology and Chemistry. He majored in the former and minored in the latter. He graduated in 1953.
When he graduated from North Carolina A&T, Henry Frye joined the Air Force and was sent to Korea and Japan to serve the United States. While in the Air Force, he rose to the rank of Captain before he left after a few years.
How Law Happened for Henry Frye
As a child of a farmer who studied Biology and Chemistry and also served in the Air Force, Law wasn’t quite on Henry’s ‘to-do’ list but something prompted his eventual decision.
When he returned to Greensboro from serving his country in the Air Force, he sought to vote in North Carolina. Unfortunately, despite his academic achievements and his role in the Air Force, he wasn’t allowed to.
At the time, Blacks were disenfranchised and the only way they could get the opportunity to vote was by answering certain questions.
Upon applying for the chance to vote, the blacks were made to answer certain weird questions. Some of which even the whites couldn’t answer and others were just absurd.
Henry Frye was denied his request to vote and this enraged him to the point that he decided to study law.
The first black chief justice of North Carolina enrolled in the UNC law school and by 1959, graduated with top honors from the law school. This began his journey towards righting wrongs and fighting for justice and equity.
4 years in, Henry Frye rose to the position of assistant U.S. District Attorney. He was the first black person to achieve that feat.
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Some of Henry Frye’s ‘Firsts’
92-year-old Henry Frye was the first black person to study law at the Law school at the University of North Carolina.
He also is the first black assistant U.S. District Attorney in North Carolina.
Moving on, he, as a black man, became the first to win a seat in the North Carolina General Assembly, in the 20th century. Since 1899, no other black person achieved the feat till Henry.
Frye was also the first black man to sit on the highest judicial bench in North Carolina. This happened after Governor Jim Hunt made him the chief justice of the state Supreme Court.
Additionally, he served as the president of the first black-owned bank in Greensboro. He was the president of the Greensboro National Bank for a decade.
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He is Married to a Fellow Trailblazer
After being denied his right to vote back in the mid-1950s, Henry got married. His wife’s name is Shirley and they got married on August 25, 1956.
Together, they welcomed 2 children named Henry Frye Jr. and Harlan Frye. Henry Frye Jr., just like his father, read law and is a practicing judge.
Shirley Taylor is also an alumna of North Carolina A&T and she graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Education and English. For her Master’s degree, she studied Special Education and Psychology.
Her vision and aim were to help the Greensboro community by being a special education teacher.
Shirley taught at Washington Elementary School.
In 1970, she was named the president of the YWCA of Greensboro after the segregated organizations were merged. She was the first black woman to be named in such a capacity.
Shirley was also on the board of the National YWCA for 20 years, from 1973 to 1993.
She was the vice chairwoman of the United Way of Greensboro, and a former administrator for Bennett College and A&T. Taylor-Frye served her community in such capacities as a member of the board of education for Greensboro City Schools.
For more than a decade Henry Frye’s wife was the vice president of community relations for Greensboro CBS affiliate, WFMY-TV. She won an Emmy Award for this achievement.
By 1985, Mrs. Frye was the proud awardee of the North Carolina highest civilian award known as the Order of the Long Leaf Pine.
In 2016, she received an honor from the YWCA as they named their renovated facility after her.
A year later, she was back on the news after being named Woman of the Year by the Greensboro News and Records.
As of 2022, Shirley Taylor-Frye was still making news rounds for her undeniable contributions to Greensboro. She was awarded a Triad Business Journal’s Outstanding Women in Business Special Achievement Award.
In 2023, Shirley and her family were promised a statue in their honor to be erected at Center City Par, Greensboro.
Above all, together, Henry E. Frye and Shirley T. Frye, have remained committed to giving back to their communities. For every place that molded them, the husband and wife have always lent a hand to make them better.
