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Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Charles McKinney Nice Papers #04552, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Provenance

Received from Charles McKinney Nice of Birmingham, Ala., beginning in 1990 (Acc. 90047, 90125, 90140, 90141, 90145, 90147, 91025, 91129, 92058, 92146, 94134, 98486).

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The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Alabama--Politics and government--1951- .
• Alabama--Race relations.
• Capital punishment--Alabama.
• Courts--Alabama.
• Family--Alabama--Social life and customs.
• Judges--Alabama.
• Legislators--Alabama.
• McKinney family.
• Nice family.
• Nice, Charles McKinney, 1919- .
• Politicians--Alabama.
• Sanford, Terry, 1917- .

• See also the Charles McKinney Nice, Jr., papers at the W. S. Hoole Special Collections Library, University of Alabama.

Charles McKinney Nice was born in Birmingham, Ala., in December 1919, the son of Dr. Charles M. and Helen Adams Nice. He grew up in Birmingham and attended Ramsey High School. He received an A.B. degree from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in 1942. In 1948, he received an LIB degree from the University of Alabama Law School.

From 1950 until 1953, Nice was law clerk to a United States district judge. In 1954, Nice was elected to the Alabama state legislature. He served until 1958. After his time in the legislature, Nice served as an acting judge in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, as legal counsel for Southern Natural Gas, as legal counsel to Operation New Birmingham, assistant United States attorney for the northern district of Alabama, and as associate counsel for the University of Alabama. In 1971, Nice was appointed to a judgeship and was elected Jefferson County circuit judge in 1976. When his term expired in 1982, he transferred to the District Family Court. He retired from that position in 1988.

Nice married Sadie Claire Mapes of Birmingham in 1954. They had two sons.

Correspondence, writings, and other materials, chiefly relating to Charles McKinney Nice and his judicial career. Some materials document Nice's stands against race discrimination as a legislator and against capital punishment as a judge. Correspondence, largely 1970s and 1980s, includes personal and professional letters written and received by Nice, who was a prolific letter writer with interests in history and politics. Included are letters, chiefly about politics, from Terry Sanford, Alabama politicians, and others. Most letters are from Nice's tenure a circuit court judge in Jefferson County, Ala. Also included are letters of endorsement from Nice's colleagues during judicial elections. Writings include copies of journals Nice wrote throughout his lifetime. Most of the journals contain reminisces about cases he handled and about the end of his career on the bench. Also included are contemplatory writings by Nice about politics and his time in the Alabama legislature. The bulk of the newspaper clippings are about judicial cases, including some relating to death penalty cases over which he presided. Also included are election materials, speech notices, and genealogy materials chiefly relating to the Nice and McKinney families.