John Adams Jr. (August 14, 1906 – April 19, 1999) was an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
lawyer and Republican politician and a member of the unicameral
Nebraska Legislature
The Nebraska Legislature (also called the Unicameral) is the legislature of the U.S. state of Nebraska. The Legislature meets at the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln. With 49 members, known as "senators", the Nebraska Legislature is the small ...
. He was born in
Columbia, South Carolina
Columbia is the capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 census, it is the second-largest city in South Carolina. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the city ...
and lived in
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...
after 1923. He served in the last session of the
Nebraska House of Representatives
The Nebraska House of Representatives was the lower house of the Nebraska Legislature during the days when Nebraska Territory, Nebraska was a territory from 1854 to 1867 and then again when Nebraska was a state from 1867 until 1937. In 1934, Nebras ...
and was the only black member of the Nebraska unicameral's first session in 1937, where he served until 1941. He was named by the
Omaha World Herald
The ''Omaha World-Herald'' is a daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, the primary newspaper of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area. It was locally owned from its founding in 1885 until 2020, when it was sold to the newspaper ch ...
as one of the Legislature's 16 most able members.
While a legislator, he introduced what became the states first public housing law and supported other welfare legislation.
He also served as an honorary sergeant at arms at the
1936 Republican National Convention
The 1936 Republican National Convention was held June 9–12 at the Public Auditorium in Cleveland, Ohio. It nominated Governor Alfred Landon of Kansas for president and Frank Knox of Illinois for vice president.
The convention supported many N ...
and as a
Judge Advocate
Judge-advocates are military lawyers serving in different capacities in the military justice systems of different jurisdictions.
Australia
The Australian Army Legal Corps (AALC) consists of Regular and Reserve commissioned officers that provi ...
at
Camp Knight in
Oakland, California
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
Life
Adams was born August 14, 1906, in Columbia, South Carolina
to the Reverend
John Adams Sr.
John Adams Sr. (February 8, 1691 – May 25, 1761), also known as Deacon John, was a British-North American colonial farmer and minister. He was the father of the second U.S. president, John Adams Jr., and grandfather of the sixth president ...
and Hattie (Bowman) Adams. Adams Sr. was an attorney and minister of the
African Methodist Episcopal Church
The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the AME Church or AME, is a Black church, predominantly African American Methodist Religious denomination, denomination. It adheres to Wesleyan-Arminian theology and has a connexionalism, c ...
and served in the Unicameral after his son, from 1949 until he died in 1962. Adams attended Pueblo High School (class of 1923) in
Pueblo, Colorado
Pueblo () is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality that is the county seat and the List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous municipality of Pueblo County, Colorado, Pueblo County, Colorado ...
before the family moved to Nebraska in 1923 and Adams attended the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
where he was one of 21 black students and the only black member of the Law School class of 1929 (he also received his undergraduate degree from UNL in 1927). Adams participated in junior boxing, for instance, coming in second in the middleweight class (160 pounds) to Joe Ban in April 1929
MidWestern AAU senior boxing championships. His brothers, Ralph W. and Harold S were also UNL alumni and Ralph W. was a graduate of the Law School and served as a lawyer in Omaha. Adams enlisted as an infantry officer in World War II in April 1932 and was promoted to Captain as trial judge advocate at Camp Knight in Oakland, California. Ralph and Harold also served in the war. He returned to California and specialized in real estate law. He continued to work for the Republican party in California, working with
Ronald Reagan's gubernatorial election. Still, he said he voted for
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
over
Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
for president.
Law
Adams was initially a criminal lawyer and occasionally was involved in
civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...
cases. In one case, he sued a restaurant that initially refused to serve him and his wife. When the police came and told the restaurant that the law required the restaurant to serve the Adams', the restaurant served a hamburger with an "inedible" amount of salt. The police initially told Adams that they didn't have civil rights complaint forms, so he had to type up his own. Eventually, the case went to court, and Judge Lester Palmer found the restaurant guilty and ordered a fine of $40. The complaint was and the fine rescinded when the restaurant agreed to change its policy. In another incident, Adams was arrested for refusing to move to the
Jim Crow
The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...
section in the balcony of a movie theater. When he arrived at the station, the Police Chief (Robert Samardick) released Adams and reprimanded the officer.
Adams was also active in the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. ...
. Later in life, he worked as a real estate lawyer.
Adams was the first second-generation black lawyer in Nebraska and less than two years out of law school saw a case before the
Nebraska Supreme Court
The Nebraska Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Nebraska. The court consists of a chief justice and six associate justices. Each justice is initially appointed by the governor of Nebraska; using the Missouri Plan, each just ...
.
Politics
John Adams Jr.'s first campaign for the state legislature was in 1932 when he ran in the tenth district against Democrat Edward J Dugan (Adams received 1,402 votes against Dugan's 2,594 in a democratic landslide). In 1934 he won the election in the Ninth District Election against incumbent Democrat
Johnny Owen
John Richard Owens (7 January 1956 – 4 November 1980) was a Welsh professional boxer who fought under the name Johnny Owen. His seemingly fragile appearance earned him many epithets, including the "Merthyr Matchstick" and the "Bionic Ba ...
and policeman Dan Phillips (1,308 votes to 1,207 and 1,183). He replaced Democrat Johnny Owen, who was first elected in 1933.
["1934 Nebraska Blue Book", http://nlcs1.nlc.state.ne.us/statepubsonline/pubs/legisbios/leg1934-1935.pdf ] Owen's Republican predecessor in the ninth was Republican John Andrew Singleton, a black dentist with whom Adams had previous political involvement, forming the Consolidated Negro Political Organization in March 1933. The organization was also included in its executive council, John O. Wood, Andrew Stuart, and Harry Anderson.
In 1936, Adams was opposed to the transformation of the Nebraska legislature to the unicameral form. He served in the 9th district of the House, a district bounded by Cumming Street, Pratt Street, 42nd Street, and the
Missouri River. His new district, the fifth, in the Unicameral, was to be expanded north to Ames and Sprague Streets, increasing white voters' proportion. However, in the 1937 election, over 80 percent of his votes came from white voters, and he defeated white Democrat, Edgar D Thompson (7,313 votes to 6,681).
In the election, he noted his opposition to sales and income taxes, his support for governor appointment over the election for judges, and support for unemployment insurance and educational financing. For the 1939 legislature, Adams Jr. defeated Dr. Harry Foster (5,808 votes to 5,632), campaigning against new taxes. Again for the 1941 legislature, Adams Jr. defeated Dr. Harry Foster (8,515 votes to 7,905), campaigning against new taxes and in support of various reforms to state and legislative processes. In the 1942 election, Adams lost to Foster (4,175 votes to 3,957) after having fought modernization of
Douglas County office procedure.
["Adams Runs Behind Foster"; Omaha World-Herald; Wednesday, November 4, 1942; page 8]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams Jr., John
1906 births
Republican Party Nebraska state senators
Republican Party members of the Nebraska House of Representatives
Politicians from Columbia, South Carolina
University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumni
United States Army personnel of World War II
American civil rights lawyers
1999 deaths
United States Army Judge Advocate General's Corps
20th-century American politicians
Lawyers from Columbia, South Carolina
United States Army officers
20th-century American lawyers
African-American state legislators in Nebraska
20th-century African-American politicians
African-American men in politics