Henry E. Frye (born August 1, 1932) is an American judge and politician who served as the first African-American chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court.

Upon returning to North Carolina, Frye was inspired to become a lawyer when he was denied the ability to register to vote by literacy tests.

[4] Frye helped eliminate the vestiges of Jim Crow from North Carolina law.

[6]Elected in 1984 to the court and re-elected in 1992, Jim Hunt appointed Frye to the state's highest judicial post, chief justice, in 1999 to replace the retiring Burley Mitchell.

He was defeated for election to a full term in 2000 by Associate Justice I. Beverly Lake Jr.[5] Frye's contemporaries noted his meticulous and curious working style: when beginning his political and judicial positions, he methodically studied up on state laws and court briefs, and he had a reputation for asking many probing questions.

[6] Frye switched to private practice in 2001, working with the firm Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard in Greensboro, North Carolina.

[8] In 2006, Frye and his wife Shirley received the Justice Award from the American Judicature Society, their highest honor.

"[15] In 2016, the North Carolina Bar Association gave him an inaugural Legal Legends of Color Award.

[16] In 2017 he was invited to participate at the University of North Carolina School of Law's Constitution Day celebration.