Biography
| “ | He has been referred to as a “Defender of the Downtrodden, the “Maverick of Omaha” and the “Angriest Black Man in Nebraska.” | ” |
Ernie Chambers is a lifetime Omaha resident. He is a graduate of Omaha Tech High School and Creighton University School of Law although he is not a member of the bar and does not practice law.
The protest that catapulted Senator Chambers, as a young 25-year-old, into the political limelight occurred in 1963 while he worked for the Omaha Post Office. Chambers was fired for insubordination because he did not appreciate the management at the Post Office referring to the black staff as “boys.” Young, outspoken, courageous, and alone, Ernie Chambers picketed the Postmaster General’s speech in Omaha with a sign that read, “I spoke against discrimination in the Omaha Post Office and was fired.”
Chambers was a young barber when he first appeared in the Oscar-nominated 1966 documentary film A Time for Burning. During this period, he emerged as a prominent leader in the North Omaha community as illustrated in his instrumental role during the 1966 riots, when he successfully negotiated concessions from the city's leaders on behalf of the African American youths of North Omaha.
Realizing that the North Omaha's 11th District needed a voice to represent it, the community recommended that Chambers run to replace deceased Senator Edward Danner, and appointee George W. Althouse. Senator Chambers’s grass roots brand of politics from the streets helped him to be elected to the conservative unicameral legislature in 1970.
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“A biography is like a handshake down the years, that can become an arm-wrestle.”
—Richard Holmes (b. 1945)