North Carolina Central University Law alumnus the Honorable H.M. “Mickey” Michaux Jr. ‘64 received the state’s highest civilian honor Tuesday, November 15, 2022. The North Carolina Awards, were presented to six distinguished North Carolinians by Governor Roy Cooper at the North Carolina Museum of Art. The award was created by the General Assembly in 1961 to recognize significant contributions to the state and nation in the fields of fine arts, literature, public service and science.
The Durham native now 92, remembers seeing segregated water fountains at the downtown United Department Store and not understanding the meaning behind the signs.
Michaux graduated high school from Palmer Memorial Institute, a boarding school for Black students that operated near Greensboro from 1902 to 1970. Following in the footsteps of his father, Henry Michaux Sr., he attended NCCU playing on the school’s first tennis team in 1948. He received a bachelor’s degree in 1952 and his law degree in 1964.
Part of a prominent Durham business family, Henry McKinley “Mickey” Michaux Jr. became the longest-serving member of the North Carolina General Assembly after short stints as a federal and state prosecutor.
For nearly four decades, he has been part of important legislation that includes bills supporting healthcare, voting rights, economic development, and historically black colleges and universities (HBCU), such as his alma mater, NCCU, where the university’s education building is named in his honor.
He served in the N.C. House of Representatives from 1973-77 and later from 1983-2019. In 2020, at age 89, he was appointed to temporarily fill a seat in the N.C. Senate. Michaux was instrumental in preparing multiple state budgets as senior House Appropriations Committee chair and held numerous leadership positions in the House. Michaux was appointed in 1977 to serve as a U.S. attorney, becoming the first African American to serve in that role in the South since Reconstruction.