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Logan Saunders 0:00
I'm gonna Saunders here with Mr. Quintin Sumner and just do some background information about maybe your life growing up or where you do your career.

Quintin Sumner 0:07
All right. I'm a native of Rocky Mount educated in the Rocky Mountain School System, which it was called back then I graduated from Rocky Mountain Senor High School in 1968. I attended North Carolina Central University in Durham and graduated in 1972. Started law school at North Carolina Central University in 1972. Finished in 1975, licensed practice law in state of North Carolina in 1975.

Logan Saunders 0:37
Or right, um, when you like, think back about your life and like growing up in a rural area, such as like, Rocky Mount what were like some challenges maybe you faced, was there a smile on your family face? And then, like who was there to kind of knit community to help them navigate through that challenge, such as maybe like, friends, family, neighbors, church or healthcare professionals?

Quintin Sumner 0:57
You know, that's a very sweeping question. And I can think of several and I'm trying to, and I've thought about this. And I'm sort of narrowed it down. And I'm a product of the 60s, Martin Luther King era civil rights. So I helped integrate the Rocky Mount public school system in 1965, which was a challenging time also. But I think I'd kind of like to tell you about after I finished law school, in 1975, I was newly licensed minute attorney, returning home to Rocky Mount to practice law and be [Inaudible] and expectations. And after getting back home, it dawned on me that I had problem, there were only two African American attorneys at Rocky Mountain at a time, one sort of semi retired the other one was in the process of winding down his practice. And there was the possibility of working with me working with them. So I stuck out. And I called them almost every attorney in Rocky Mount seeking employment, I could not find a job. And one day, I got a call from a family friend of mine, my family, and he indicated that he had had a conversation with a white attorney, who he knew casually and asked him, kind of told him about me and asked him to kind of meet me and see if that might work something out in terms of employment. And so this attorney agreed to do so. And he and I had a luncheon date for the old Carlton house in Rocky Mount, which was the place in those days to have lunch or buddy wouldn't be seen at the Carlton house. So we met and it's very pleasant meeting. We engaged in general chit chat first bought a meal, we ordered a meal, had a great meal, great conversation, and towards the end of the meal. Our focus turned to the matter at hand, which was my possible employment. And as he started, he was very complimentary he said listen. I'm impressed. You are reasonably intelligent, young man, you're articulant , you make a good impression. Except, I'm not gonna be able to hire you my firm. And his reason was because you're black. And it's sort of caught me off guard, I was sort of struck by lightning bolt, I guess. It was a fall kind of haze appeared. And as I said, they are in the spot listening to him. And he even suggested that you'd be better off relocating to New York or Washington, DC or Philadelphia, anywhere except Rocky Mount. And I was raised by great parents, and they always taught me manners and respect. So I didn't say anything ugly to him. Although I was thinking some very terrible things. I kept those and we stood we shook hands. I thank them for his time and for for the meal. As I walked out into the restaurant, into the August sunlight, for definitely, very bright day like yesterday. I was still in this phase, this fog. And when I got my car in the parking lot, I opened the door, I sat in a car. And I made a prayer. And it went like this. I said, Dear God, please help me show this man, that he cannot determine for me, who I can be, what I can be how far I can go in life, that you and I together determine that he doesn't get to make that decision. And I ended the prayer. And a couple of days after that. I got a telephone call from Katherine Wilson by the name of GK Butterfield who attended Central Saint Ahmadi, and he had a couple classes give them a casual friends. And he said, Listen. My childhood friend, Toby Fitch was Milton Fitch and have been thinking about starting a firm at all licensed the same time I was, they said that. He said that we'd like to have you think about joining us. I've made a trip to Wilson and the three of us can I struck a deal we decided to open a law firm together. None of us have been practice law together, no experience. And we decided that we would do it in Wilson, North Carolina, the firm became Fitch, Butterfield, and Sumner. We were, we use to kid and say we were the largest African American firm East Raleigh. In fact, we were. And we stayed together for about two and a half years tracks and ago, I came back to Rocky Mountain and opened up another firm. Now, I'll let you decide whether that that was a great thing on my part. Toby Fitch, Milton Fitz Jr. went on to become a North Carolina House of Representatives he later became majority leader for the total assembly. GK Butterfield became a Supreme court judge was appointed to the North Carolina Supreme Court Associate Justice. He lost the election for real election to be to retain a seat was appointed a special Supreme Court judge. Then he was elected to United States Congress having served over 25 years in Congress. And today he's retired. But Milton Fitch also became a Supreme Court judge retired, went back to legislatures of North Carolina Senator. I on the other hand became the first African American judge, District Court judge. It's called Nash and Wilson counties in 1983. I was elected to the North Carolina Supreme court in 1990. And I've been a Supreme Court judge for the last 32 years. So I'll let you decide whether or not any of us were all successes.

Logan Saunders 6:34
I believe certainly you were. So like as you went through these challenges, such as like facing backlash over your race or things like that, you would say you blamed a lot of like your faith or maybe like the people around you.

Quintin Sumner 6:45
And without a doubt, my faith, a big part of that success in my family. I am a firm believer that I have done nothing in life. I've accomplished nothing in life without God, being on my side, having touched me, Grace me and bless me.

Logan Saunders 7:05
So like going back even further than maybe like your professional career while you were growing up like going through school or things like that were maybe some challenges that you faced that there are those.

Quintin Sumner 7:14
As I say I helped integrate the Rockmount school system in 1965. That was a very challenging time. I can remember being in class at school with some of my friends who lived in a neighborhood. And that's the last time I saw anybody who looked like me. Throughout the day, all my classes were white. I was only African American in there, I ate lunch at, at lunch I ate with African Americans, then spent the rest of the afternoon in an all white setting. My last class of the day was band. I was a horrible band member. Terrible. It was not the story. But it was one of the friends of mine. He and I went to band together. And we were only two African Americans in the band. And it was the only time I saw anybody black during the whole school day. When I walked to school the morning, at lunch and at band. And when I went home the afternoon, and those are not very good times they were they were not very pleasant times.

Logan Saunders 8:11
So do you think the people around you maybe like your people that you ate lunch with or went to the water school with? Do you think they were kind of main in helping you like get through these challenges?

Quintin Sumner 8:20
Certainly, in times of stress and in times of trouble, we lean upon people that you know, friends, and they were tremendous people, they were good friends. We got a camaraderie we all had a bond and that was the make what we were doing a success to make it work.

Logan Saunders 8:39
As you got into like being a judge in superior court, things like that. What were some challenges that you faced during those times?

Quintin Sumner 8:45
Oh, undoubtedly, as a superior court judge. One of the toughest cases that that a judge is ever involved was a capital murder trial, and during my time on the bench I resigned over probably eight or nine capital murder cases. Very difficult times. On the other end of the scale when I was a district court judge sort of toughest cases that I probably encountered were ones dealing with support and placement of children who were the victims of divorce. It's always difficult to

Logan Saunders 9:26
Do you know, maybe anybody in the community like the Bailey or Spring Hope community now or Rocky Mount that like maybe had like a severe incident or accident happened to them, or like such as like maybe like a house catching on fire. They lost a lot of things. And like who were the people in the community that helped them like get over there?

Quintin Sumner 9:44
That's tough that 39 years of events I have just so many horror stories of people being in just a terrible predicaments. And I just have to say this that immunity of Nash County has always been very supportive of its people. People have always rallied to help people that are in need. And I've always found that to be the case, during my entire time and I spent of the school I spent my entire life here, and I would stand on that.

Logan Saunders 10:19
Do you have any closing remarks or anything you'd like to comment on?

Quintin Sumner 10:23
Listen, I think is great to taken down and talking to somebody who's not very important like me. I appreciate it. It's been my pleasure.

Logan Saunders 10:29
Yes sir. Thank you very much.

Quintin Sumner 10:30
Yes, sir.