Attorney Zebie A. Grayson is a Booker T. native and the daughter of the late Lubertha Bledsoe-Gipson Grayson and Zebedee Grayson. She is a 1985 graduate of Carroll High School and former member of the Carrollettes dance team, while under the talented choreography of Judiana Furlough. What she remembers most about her experience at Carroll High School was the constant mandate for excellence. As a Carrollette, she was required to attend practice at 5 a.m. and again at 3 p.m. every weekday, during the summer. The rehearsals were characterized by rigorous physical exercise, which resulted in the Carrollettes winning numerous awards at Drill Team camp and also mesmerizing crowds with their high kicks and flawless ripples (contagions). During football season, she had less than 30 minutes to leave class and get dressed for practice. In addition, she was required to maintain a certain grade point average to be eligible to continue participating in extracurricular activities. The discipline, persistence and dedication she learned at Carroll High School was the impetus for her development in other arenas. Most notable in developing her academic curiosity and stamina, were teachers like Walter Rush, Billy Creed, Margaret Feazell and Johnnie Rodgers. To this day, she remembers the wisdom of her principal, Curtis Armand, who often quoted these words to the student body “when care is pressing you down a bit, rest if you must but don’t you quit”. Mr. Armand would also drill into them this mantra “You’re well equipped for what fight you choose. You have arms and legs and a brain to use”.
Building on the foundation she had in her home, church and school, Ms. Grayson earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Southern Universtiy Baton Rouge. She is a 1994 graduate of the Southern University Law Center, A. A. Lenoir Hall, earning a Juris Doctor degree with Latin honors. She earned membership to the prestigious Southern University Law Review, where she served on the editorial board. Her work entitled, Marshall’s Dream Deferred: Almost Four Decades after Brown, the Vestiges of De Jure Segregation Linger as the Implementation Process Continues is published in the Southern University Law Review. In addition, it was added to Westlaw Journals and Law Reviews, as well as being cited by sources such as the Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity and Society; People’s Lawyer’s Crusaders for justice and by law professors, judges and other legal scholars.
She is a former felony prosecutor, having served under the Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative. While a prosecutor, she was successful in identifying the proper venue for the prosecution of felony firearm offenders, through working with a a network of local, state and federal law enforcement officials to keep our streets safe. Ms. Grayson was appointed to the Public Corruption Team of prosecutors, by former Ouachita Parish District Attorney Jerry Jones. She has served as law clerk to the Honorable Benjamin Jones and Carl Van Sharp. In the summer of 2017, she was invited to sit on a “prison to pipeline” panel at Langston University, Tulsa. It was there that she received a Citation of Achievement from Oklahoma State Legislator Representative Regina Goodwin, for her community and civic engagement during the 2017 “Black Wallstreet” commemoration in Tulsa, OK.
Ms. Grayson is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. She is licensed in the state of Louisiana and before the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana. Out of all of her accomplishments, she treasures most of all being the mother of one daughter, Zebielle Alexandra Lubertha Grayson. Currently, she continues the Carroll High School tradition as a resident of Atlanta, GA, where she practices administrative law in the federal courts.