Chris Mercer

Christopher Columbus "C.C." Mercer (March 27, 1924 – November 20, 2012) was an African-American attorney from Arkansas. He was one of the "six pioneers" who integrated the University of Arkansas Law School. As an attorney, he served as an NAACP field representative to advise Daisy Bates, who spearheaded the efforts of the Little Rock Nine who integrated Little Rock Central High School.

Biography Mercer was born in 1924 Pine Bluff, Arkansas, where he graduated from Merrill High School and AM&N college. He served as principal of Conway Training School in Menifee, Arkansas. In 1949, Mercer and George W. B. Haley entered the University of Arkansas School of Law at Fayetteville, one year after Silas Hunt became the first black student at a white southern University since reconstruction. Of the "six pioneers", he was the only one who did not serve in the army during World War II due to a medical condition,

In 1957, when Little Rock Central was integrated, Mercer served as an advisor to one of the nine black students, Daisy Bates.

Mercer died November 20, 2012, at the age of 88.