1910-1920 -- Malcolm D. Chambers, Ernie’s father, moves to Omaha with his parents, Samuel and Emma, and brothers and sister from Lowndes County, Miss. Malcolm is listed as a 12-year-old newsboy in the 1920 Omaha census.

He goes on to marry Lillian Swift, and they have seven children -- Ernie, Robert, Eddie, Gilbert, Nettye, Alyce and JoAnn. Malcolm Chambers becomes a Baptist minister and works at a packinghouse to support his family. Both Malcolm and Lillian live to the age of 88.

1937 -- Ernest W. Chambers is born in Omaha on July 10. His mother, who cleaned houses, is originally from Rayville, La.

1942 -- Five-year-old Ernie starts kindergarten at Kellom Elementary School.

1943-1951 -- He moves to Lothrop Elementary to complete first through eighth grades.

“They had things like ‘Little Black Sambo’ read and little white kids could laugh at us,” he recalls. “And they’d sing ‘Old Black Joe’ and they’d linger on it. And everything that pertained to black people was made the object of ridicule. And since there were few of us, we became the living symbols of these things.”

As a boy, Ernie devours books like an addict, his brother Eddie says, reading long into the night.

Chambers attends the Robinson Memorial Church of God in Christ, a Pentecostal church in Omaha. He converts his brother, Eddie, to Christ, quoting Hebrews: “The day you hear My voice, harden not your heart.”

It changed his life, Eddie Chambers says, taking him from his dream of being a famous jazz drummer to becoming a career teacher and a Christian. But as a teenager, Ernie Chambers leaves the church. He now professes atheism.

1955 -- Chambers graduates from Omaha Technical High School.

1959 -- He graduates from Creighton University with a bachelor of arts degree in history and minors in Spanish and philosophy.

1961 -- The FBI opens a file on Chambers, which eventually will grow to 157 pages. The file was prompted by a communication from the Post Office Department, where Chambers worked as a substitute distribution clerk, advising that he “may be an adherent to the teachings of Elijah Muhammad.”

He was not, he says. The file, developed through 1972, shows “a pathological fear of any black man who can put 10 words and make sense,” Chambers says.

1962 -- Chambers, 25, marries Jacklyn A. Hunter, 22, in Papillion. They have four children, Mark, Gayla, Ernie Jr. and David.

1966 -- At a “Black Power Teach-in” at the University of Nebraska, Chambers delivers a lengthy statement condemning religion, Omaha laws, courts, Omaha Mayor A.D. Sorensen and the Omaha Police Department. He asks why Sorensen can say “Negroes can live anywhere in the city they want” and then turn around and ask for open housing legislation.

He appears in the documentary “A Time for Burning” and becomes a sought-after civil rights speaker across the country.

1967 -- Chambers tells a gathering at a Unitarian church that black people have exhausted every means of trying to gain equality, and violence is the only tool left at their disposal.

1968 -- Speaking at a black power conference at Grinnell College in Iowa, Chambers is quoted as saying black power is “a well-loaded gun in the hands of a black man who knows who his enemy is. ... I’m looking for revenge however I can get it.”

He runs for the Omaha school board as a write-in candidate and does not win.

1969 -- He runs unsuccessfully for a spot on the Omaha City Council.

1970 -- Chambers, 33, is elected to the Nebraska Legislature, replacing incumbent George Althouse, 69, in the 11th District. During the campaign, he lists these areas to address in the Legislature: education, prison reform, drugs and lowering the voting age to 18.

The Omaha World-Herald editorializes that, because of his strong rhetoric against Omaha Police Patrolman Larry Minard, who was killed after being lured to a house on a false report, Chambers has no place “making laws in a civilized society.”

Chambers had noted there was no community outcry after an Omaha police officer who shot and killed a 14-year-old black girl was tried, found innocent and put back on the police force.

In December, as a newly elected senator, Chambers makes his first trip ever to rural northeast Nebraska at the invitation of another freshman senator, John DeCamp. He comes face to face for the first time with a herd of cattle, a frightening experience.

1971 -- Chambers, referred to by some as a “black militant,” begins his first term in the Nebraska Legislature, starting a 38-year career representing District 11.

The state installs a strict new security system at the Capitol, saying it is coincidence that it comes at the same time as the newly elected senator from Omaha.

Chambers clashes with his hawkish colleague Terry Carpenter over the Vietnam War and an upcoming visit by President Richard Nixon. In time, the two develop a collegial friendship and work together to pass district-based voting legislation.

1973 -- Chambers sends a letter to the state Board of Parole, urging it to recommend Caril Fugate’s sentence be commuted to a term of years and that she then be paroled.

“To deny her freedom is to deny our interest in preparing offenders to return to society,” he writes. “This matter is bigger than Caril Fugate.”

Chambers proposes a smoking ban on the legislative floor.

1974 -- Petition candidate Chambers runs for Nebraska governor, saying that if he is elected, “you will see Nebraska take off like a jet plane toward social justice and equality before the law.” He does not win.

1976 -- Chambers succeeds in getting “Little Black Sambo” removed from public school libraries in the state.

1978 -- He serves as a pallbearer for Terry Carpenter’s funeral in Scottsbluff.

1979 -- Chambers completes his law degree at Creighton University after a new dean of the law school offers to let him come back tuition-free to finish. He had left when the school refused to let him finish because of absences, even though, he says, he passed all of his exams. He believes the school didn’t like his political activities and clashes with the police, housing authority, schools and mayor. He says he will use his law degree to help people who have unpopular causes but no money.

He shows up one day at the Legislature with a new look: His hair is braided into cornrows.

“Perhaps spiders wove it in the middle of the night,” he tells fellow legislators.

The Legislature passes Chambers’ death penalty repeal bill, which substitutes a mandatory minimum 30-year sentence. Gov. Charles Thone vetoes the bill.

1980 -- The Legislature passes a resolution, sponsored by Chambers and Sen. Steve Fowler of Lincoln, to withdraw about $25 million in state funds from investment in companies that had interests in South Africa. It turns out to be a national trend.

1982 -- Chambers fails in a bid to be state attorney general.

1984 -- He successfully sues the state to get reimbursement for senators’ travel and food expenses.

An article in a national magazine calls Chambers the “angriest black man in America.” Chambers says: “On a consistent basis, I’m probably more upset than most people about what’s happening to black people in America.”

1988 -- Chambers’ bill that would pay a stipend to football players is vetoed by Gov. Kay Orr.

He runs unsuccessfully for Senate as a New Alliance Party candidate.

1990 -- Chambers supports the purchase by the Legislature of 56 leather-and-brass chairs for senators, 51 of them costing $1,435.58 each and five costing $1,263.22 each. They should outlive the senators’ political careers, he said.

1993 -- Chambers introduces a bill that would require police to corroborate visual observations on a car’s speed with radar or electronic proof, instead of leaving the choice up to officers. Chambers, who drives back and forth to Lincoln from Omaha frequently, had been charged with speeding on at least four occasions and had challenged the accuracy of speedometer measurements.

1994 -- Chambers runs for governor as a write-in candidate, describing himself as a person who doesn’t seek favors from anyone, has total independence, stands firm and never hedges or disguises what he believes. He gets about 5,000 votes, but only about half of those are counted, because the other write-ins didn’t include a running mate.

1995 -- Chambers offers another bill that would make University of Nebraska football players employees of the university and would make it a crime to refuse to do so.

1996 -- Chambers testifies before the House Judiciary Committee of Congress, wearing a purple sweatshirt, as part of a delegation of five legislators from various states giving their views on a bill dealing with same-sex marriage. He later says: “St. Jude and I collaborate in being the last hope of the hopeless.”

2000 -- Nebraska voters pass Initiative 415, imposing a limit of no more than two consecutive terms for state legislators. The limits apply to service after Jan. 1, 2001, so the first election in which term-limited senators are unable to run is 2006. Chambers says the law was passed specifically to get rid of him.

2004 -- Chambers opposes giving Internet access to senators on the floor, worrying the Internet will keep them from paying attention to the debate and business at hand.

2005 -- Senators kill the Omaha senator’s filibuster and advance a prairie dog management bill. A Chambers poem ensues:

“Cloture, they may ask today; tomorrow, they’ll be daunted. They’ll have what they asked for �” but it won’t be what they wanted. When they cross that fateful line, which cannot be uncrossed, they, perhaps, may win a little, while a lot is lost.”

Chambers says he sees managing prairie dogs as unnecessary and cruel and argues the state is trying to turn over the cost of managing prairie dogs to local landowners.

2006 -- Chambers shepherds the breakup of Omaha Public Schools, arguing the district has failed minority and poor children and that it’s time for the schools they attend to be administered by those most familiar with their needs.

In an interview in “Mother Jones,” published in January, he is quoted as saying: “This country could become America the beautiful, but it never will. It’s in the hands of the wrong people. And the public is so apathetic. Those who are not apathetic are dispirited, discouraged and disheartened.”

2007 -- Chambers sues God to prove a point about frivolous lawsuits. Alas, the defendant does not respond.

“Plaintiff, despite reasonable efforts to effectuate personal service upon defendant, ‘Come out, come out, wherever you are,’ has been unable to do so,” he says. The suit asks for a “permanent injunction ordering Defendant to cease certain harmful activities and the making of terroristic threats.”

2008 -- Chambers’ last session begins, and the state eagerly awaits his word on what will happen next.

“I entered the Legislature a poor man, and I will leave the Legislature a poor man,” he has said many times.

In an interview with “Mother Jones,” he says: “I will work hard to try to get rid of the death penalty. If I could do that, with all the other things I have not succeeded in doing, I would consider my political career to have been a resounding success.”

“Whether I’m out of this office by term limits or retirement, I may do some political organizing. But that’s the only contact I think I would have in politics. I would not be a candidate for any other office.”