E. Brice Cunningham, An American Lawyer, Scholar, Genius, Supreme Legacy, dies at 91
By Dr. J. Ester Davis
The Thanksgiving Season 2022, marked the end of an era. I toyed with several titles in memory of Attorney E. Brice Cunningham who changed addresses this week. Back in 2016, I wrote for history sake, a five-part series entitled “Legal Genius” detailing the African American lawyers and their able-to-epic work ethic.
I went to work for E. Brice in the late 60’s when he was a partner at Finch Lockridge Cunningham Law Firm. Looking back over this ‘couture design’ in history, I call it now a powerful paradigm swift, transforming our minds to duty and purpose, a moment in America with worldview stories attached that will take a lifetime to announce. The ink was barely dry on Civil Rights Law #1, when Thurgood Marshall was appointed to the United States Supreme Court after his days with the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund.
At this time in Texas History, there were self-made proclaimed pioneers …six(6)lawyers in Dallas who met the “overwhelming” unscripted challenge they were confronted with …managing grace, dignity and a righteous indignation. Fred Finch (Mollie Belt’s Dad), Joe Lockridge (law library at Golden Gate Baptist Church), who died in a plane crash in the late ‘60’s, Brice Cunningham (also the legal architect for the new Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church), Louis Bedford, (Dallas’ first black judge), W. J. Durham, D. B. Mason, older jurists with grit. On the other side of the spectrum was SNCC, CORE, the Black Panther Party, SCLC, in the form of Peter Johnson, et al, a “force” all by himself, who was in jail on a very regular residentiary basis with scores of ‘friends’. There were violent and non-violent black groups, and J. Edgar Hoover, FBI Director, had labeled Dr. King as a known documented Communist. In the middle of the good, bad and ugly, was the frontline makers-of-the –dream. With the passing of Civil Rights Law #2, the undisputed Sovereign Grand Commander of the Prince Hall Masons, I. H. Clayborn, put his carefully orchestrated housing plan into action. In concert with the Department of Housing, the Texas Masons, built several large low income projects in and across Texas. E. Brice Cunningham served as Attorney General for the United Supreme Council, Attorney for the Prince Hall Grand Lodge and Legal Counsel for other low income projects in Fort Worth, Houston and East Texas. But his forbidden “love” as an officer of the court was in the burning bushes-of-civil rights fighting racism, rage and injustice. And…he was good at it! He was beautifully, shamelessly, a bold ruthless rebel-with-a cause.
Dr. Sharon Middlebrooks, the current Dallas NAACP President remember those days vividly. She started her career with Dr. Clayborn and recalls that Brice “was known for his wit. His legal intellect was in high demand”. Huh! What irony!
Women like Camena Adams, Evelyn Johnson, Jean Freeland, Mollie Kellum, Sherry Washington, Gwen Tatum, and a school of other talented minded females, were a huge part of this legal world. We worked endless hour and had a complete grasp of the obvious. I recall when Durham hired the first ‘most brilliant’ female attorney in his office. She was most welcome with little fanfare and a boatload of cases.
On the job training was all we had. My mornings in the law office started early because I had to drop off my sons. Time to pick them up, if too busy, Brice or one of the office staff would help out. My sons had a ‘play’ area in Brice’s office. The phones started ringing early too. One particular morning I will never forget, Thurgood Marshall called. Behind that call was W. J. Durham, the attorney from North Dallas. They wanted Brice to go to Nacogdoches, Texas, get a ‘bunch’ out of jail. Brice conferred with L. A. Bedford, as per usual, assigned cases and left. Brice could handle these times with ease, a non-sleep, non stop agenda and a made up mind. Make no mistake about it, Brice could be difficult and rigid, but I had shorthand skills where he could easily dictate 20 letters at a time.
- Brice Cunningham’s reach as a legal genius was wide and deep. He roamed from high profile murder cases to possibly one of the first class action* suits against a major corporation, not to mention appearing before the United States Supreme Court on school desegregation. He was a consensus builder, a master strategist to the finish line.
End of an era! It most certainly is. Is there a second generation at bat? Are we repeating history? Thank you, Attorney Cunningham, for the way you spent your time here on earth with us.
Esterdavis2000@gmail.com
* The Reed v. General Motors Corp. is still one of my favorites, a true work of art and a benchmark case ahead of its time. Briefly, this is the case of over 600 black employees who filed a class action suit against the General Motors Plant in Arlington. The original complaint was filed around 1976. A subsequent hearing was heard in 1980 “certifying a class” of African Americans employed at the GM Assembly Plant in Arlington, Texas.
