- Date Of Birth: March 27, 1924
- Date Of Death: November 20, 2012
- State: Arkansas
Attorney Christopher C. Mercer, Jr., was born in Pine Bluff, AR, March 27, 1924 to the late Castor C. and Tarvell Mercer. He is preceded in death by one brother, Harry Mercer, and a sister-in-law, Pearl Herman. He entered his eternal home on November 20, 2012, in Little Rock, AR.
He graduated from Merrill High School in Pine Bluff in 1942. In 1946, he received an A.B. degree from AM&N College (UAPB). In 1949, C.C. entered the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville, as the third Black student to enroll at the University, becoming one of the “Six Pioneers.” In March 1954, he passed the Arkansas Bar Examination with the highest score. He received his law license on May 17, 1954, the same day of the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision. He received his LLB degree from the U of A on January 29, 1955.
He later served as executive director of the Arkansas Council on Human Relations and field secretary for the Arkansas chapter of the NAACP. During the “Little Rock Central High Crisis,” he served as “aide-de-camp” to Mrs. Daisy Bates, counselor to the “Little Rock Nine,” and drove five of them to and from school during their first semester.
