LUMBERTON — The Julian T. Pierce Memorial Initiative with hold a celebration of the life of its namesake at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday — an event that is being timed to mark the 25th anniversary of his death.
It will be held in the parking lot of Legal Aid of North Carolina’s Pembroke office, at 101 E. 2nd St., and there will be a reception in the Legal Aid Library after the ceremony. In the event of bad weather, the celebration will move to the Council Room at Pembroke Town Hall.
Pierce, a Lumbee Indian, was the founding director of Lumbee River Legal Services. The Julian T. Pierce Memorial Initiative at Legal Aid is being formed to develop a memorial to Pierce and support scholarships that are available in his name at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke, Robeson Community College and North Carolina Central University.
Pierce was a civil rights attorney when he was murdered on March 26, 1988, while a candidate for a newly created Superior Court judgeship. He was 42 years old.
At the time, Robeson County was in turmoil following the takeover of The Robesonian newspaper on Feb. 1, 1988, by two men who said they were trying to draw attention to widespread corruption among county officials and at the sheriff’s office.
Anyone seeking more information can call Dale Deese at 910-521-2831, Harvey Godwin at 910-827-7101 or the Rev. Mac Legerton at 910-736-5573.
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