U.S. District Judge Curtis Collier received a board emeritus seat for his outstanding service and support to the Urban League of Greater Chattanooga at the organization’s 41st annual Equal Opportunity Day celebration Dec. 7 at the Chattanooga Convention Center.
Collier was as a member of the Chattanooga Urban League’s board of directors for more than 25 years. During that time, he served on multiple committees, including the executive committee.
Early in his tenure with the local Urban League, Collier assisted with the Young Professionals program. Later, he was instrumental in starting the annual Civics Bowl competition for the National Achievers Society.
Collier also received the Whitney M. Young Award from the Chattanooga Urban League and the Quarter Century Award from the national Urban League.
Collier is a U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of Tennessee. President Bill Clinton nominated him for the position, and the U.S. Senate confirmed the nomination, in 1995. He served as chief judge of the district court from 2007-2012.
Collier was the first African American to serve as a federal judge in the Eastern District of Tennessee and the second African American federal judge to serve in Tennessee.
A native of Marianna, Arkansas, Collier attended Tennessee State University, where he majored in chemistry. Following his graduation from TSU, Collier attended the Duke University School of Law in Durham, North Carolina, and graduated with his Juris Doctor’s degree in 1974.
Collier entered active duty in the Air Force after his graduation from Duke and served in the Judge Advocate General’s Department as an assistant staff judge advocate with the rank of captain.
He then served in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana from 1979-1987 and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee, where he was the supervisory assistant U.S. attorney in charge of the Chattanooga office, from 1987-1995.
Collier is the recipient of numerous awards for leadership, community involvement and legal accomplishments, including the Chattanooga Bar Association’s Jac Chambliss Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021, the 2015 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award, the NAACP Chattanooga Chapter Thurgood Marshall Award and more.
Collier currently serves on the board of directors of the Tennessee State University Foundation and the Lyndhurst Foundation. He’s formerly served on the boards of the Federal Judicial Center, the Children’s Advocacy Center of Hamilton County, the Siskin Foundation, 100 Black Men of Chattanooga, Moccasin Bend Girl Scouts Council, Friends of Moccasin Bend National Park, and the AIM Center of Hamilton County.
Collier is married to the former Cheryl Elaine Hollingshed. They are the parents of three children and have two grandchildren.
He is a frequent speaker and most recently gave the keynote address at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. on civility in April and the commencement address at the Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law graduation in May.