John Adams, Jr

Law Adams was initially a criminal lawyer and occasionally was involved in civil rights cases. In one case, he sued a restaurant that initially refused to serve him and his wife. When the police came and told the restaurant that the law required the restaurant to serve the Adams', the restaurant served a hamburger with an "inedible" amount of salt. The police initially told Adams that they didn't have civil rights complaint forms, so he had to type up his own. Eventually, the case went to court, and Judge Lester Palmer found the restaurant guilty and ordered a fine of $40. The complaint was and the fine rescinded when the restaurant agreed to change its policy. In another incident, Adams was arrested for refusing to move to the Jim Crow section in the balcony of a movie theater. When he arrived at the station, the Police Chief (Robert Samardick) released Adams and reprimanded the officer. Later in life, he worked as a real estate lawyer.

Politics John Adams Jr.'s first campaign for the state legislature was in 1932 when he ran in the tenth district against Democrat Edward J Dugan (Adams received 1,402 votes against Dugan's 2,594 in a democratic landslide). In 1934 he won the election in the Ninth District Election against incumbent Democrat Johnny Owen and policeman Dan Phillips (1,308 votes to 1,207 and 1,183). He replaced Democrat Johnny Owen, who was first elected in 1933. Owen's Republican predecessor in the ninth was Republican John Andrew Singleton, a black dentist with whom Adams had previous political involvement, forming the Consolidated Negro Political Organization in March 1933. The organization was also included in its executive council, John O. Wood, Andrew Stuart, and Harry Anderson.

In 1936, Adams was opposed to the transformation of the Nebraska legislature to the unicameral form. He served in the 9th district of the House, a district bounded by Cumming Street, Pratt Street, 42nd Street, and the Missouri River. His new district, the fifth, in the Unicameral, was to be expanded north to Ames and Sprague Streets, increasing white voters' proportion. However, in the 1937 election, over 80 percent of his votes came from white voters, and he defeated white Democrat, Edgar D Thompson (7,313 votes to 6,681). For the 1939 legislature, Adams Jr. defeated Dr. Harry Foster (5,808 votes to 5,632), campaigning against new taxes. Again for the 1941 legislature, Adams Jr. defeated Dr. Harry Foster (8,515 votes to 7,905), campaigning against new taxes and in support of various reforms to state and legislative processes. In the 1942 election, Adams lost to Foster (4,175 votes to 3,957) after having fought modernization of Douglas County office procedure.