37 Facts About Ernie Chambers

Ernest William Chambers was born on July 10,1937 and is an American politician and civil rights activist who represented North Omaha's 11th District in the Nebraska State Legislature from 1971 to 2009 and again from 2013 to 2021.

Ernie Chambers is the longest-serving state senator in Nebraska history, having represented North Omaha for 46 years.

For most of his career, Ernie Chambers was the only nonwhite senator.

Ernie Chambers is the only African-American to have run for governor and the first to have run for the US Senate in Nebraska history.

Ernie Chambers has six siblings, who were all born in Omaha.

Ernie Chambers attended Creighton University School of Law in the early 1960s and completed his degree in 1979.

Ernie Chambers refused to join the Nebraska State Bar Association, so was unable to practice law; in 2015, he explained his refusal on the grounds that he had earned the right to practice by passing law school, and should not have to pay the Bar Association dues as well.

In 1963, when Ernie Chambers was 25, he worked for the Omaha Post Office.

Ernie Chambers has said he was fired for insubordination because he spoke out against the management at the Post Office calling the black staff "boys".

Ernie Chambers headed a committee of the Near North Side Police-Community Relations Council, collated information, and presented numerous complaints about the police to city officials.

Ernie Chambers was working as a barber at the time, and appeared in the Oscar-nominated 1966 documentary film A Time for Burning, where he talked about race relations in Omaha.

In 1968, Ernie Chambers ran for a position on the Omaha School Board, but was not elected.

Ernie Chambers failed as a write-in candidate for the Omaha City Council in 1969.

Ernie Chambers protested, as he thought the men had been framed by COINTELPRO.

Ernie Chambers was reelected to the Legislature in every ensuing election through 2004.

Ernie Chambers was not allowed to seek reelection in 2008 because of a constitutional amendment Nebraska voters passed in 2000 that limits Nebraska state legislators to two consecutive four-year terms.

Ernie Chambers ran for the United States Senate in 1988 as a New Alliance Party candidate.

Ernie Chambers spearheaded a stronger 1984 law mandating divestment, resulting in Nebraska's public employee pension funds divesting $14.6 million in stocks issued by companies that did business with South Africa.

Ernie Chambers filed a lawsuit in 1980 attempting to end the Legislature's practice of beginning its session with a prayer offered by a state-supported chaplain, arguing that it was unconstitutional under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

Ernie Chambers has promoted recognizing NCAA student athletes as state employees since the 1980s, arguing that they are generating revenue for their universities without any legal benefits for doing so, which encourages illegal payments and gifts.

Ernie Chambers continued to support similar measures throughout his career in the legislature.

Ernie Chambers believed that this attempt was misguided, and that access to the court system should not be restricted.

Ernie Chambers countered that, because of God's omniscience, God had been notified, but decided not to pursue the suit further.

Ernie Chambers is a firm opponent of the death penalty, and introduced a bill to repeal Nebraska's capital punishment law at the start of each legislative session, 36 times over 40 years.

In 2012, Ernie Chambers was elected to represent north Omaha's 11th district in the Nebraska Unicameral, defeating Brenda Council by 3,408 votes, with 10,336 votes cast.

Ernie Chambers was forced to sit out the 2020 election due to the same law.

On November 8,2016, Ernie Chambers was reelected to the legislature, defeating his opponent, John Sciara, by a vote of 7,763 to 1,726.

In January 2017, Sciara filled a protest challenge to the legislature, claiming Ernie Chambers did not live in the district he was elected to represent and was thus ineligible to hold office.

Ernie Chambers is a longtime civil rights activist and the most prominent and outspoken African-American leader in the state.

In 2008, a room at the Nebraska Capitol used for Judiciary Committee meetings was named the Ernie Chambers Memorial Hearing Room.

Ernie Chambers was offered a Distinguished Service award from the American Humanist Association in 2007, but he turned it down.

Ernie Chambers accepted a Lifetime Achievement Award from the association in 2016 at its 75th anniversary conference in Chicago.

Ernie Chambers is known for his casual attire of blue jeans and short-sleeved sweatshirts, even when in session at the Nebraska Legislature.

Ernie Chambers often brings his dog with him to work.

Ernie Chambers was married to Jacklyn Adele Ernie Chambers, with whom he had four children before they divorced.

For years Ernie Chambers was the only openly atheist member of any state government in the nation.

Ernie Chambers was still the only one in the nation in 2017 according to Kurt Andersen in The Atlantic.