Rev. Clarence Lumumba James, Sr. has been founder and president of Youth Leadership Development Programs, Inc. since 1984. He was born and raised on the west side of Chicago and is the second son and second child born to Mr. Jesse James, Jr. of Arkansas and the former Mayme Louise Graves of Monroe, Louisiana. While a student at John Marshall High School, he came under the tutelage of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and became a member of his Southern Christian Leadership Conference staff. His experiences in the movement spanned the period of the Civil Rights and Black Power eras. Rev. James was involved in most of the major progressive campaigns of that period including the Open Housing Drive, organizing Tenant Unions, the student movement, the development of Afro-American Studies, the Meredith March, the Poor People's Campaign and the National Mobilization to End the War in Vietnam War.
Rev. James began his undergraduate studies at Harvard University where he was a member of the Standing Committee to Develop the Afro-American Studies Department. He ended his undergraduate work at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia and went on the earn a M.A. from Chicago Theological Seminary and a Master of Divinity from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. He is currently a candidate for a Doctor of Ministry Degree at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio.
Through his more than 36 years as an ordained Baptist clergyman, his ministry has been distinguished by his Pan-African perspective and his activist philosophy. Some of his ministerial experiences include hospital chaplain, prison chaplain, senior pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Rockford Illinois and Minister of Presence for the United Methodist Conference of Northern Indiana. Rev. James' commitment is to minister to the whole person and seek the fullest development of the individual, the family and the race -- spiritually, academically, economically and politically.
His political activities and community involvements include: Executive Director of the Religious Council on Urban Affairs in Chicago, President of the Rockford Chapter of Operation PUSH, member of the Citizens Committee to Elect Harold Washington - Mayor of Chicago, and Executive Director of the Metropolitan Open Housing Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Rev. James has been involved in education at virtually every level and in every phase from pre-school to university. He has taught in grammar school, high school, college and at the graduate level. He is a trainer of teachers, a certified parent education specialist and a student motivator. A recognized scholar and published author in the field of Pan-African studies, his latest book is entitled: "LOST GENERATION? OR LEFT GENERATION: Confronting The Youth Crisis In Black America" He has taught at Northern Illinois University, Morehouse School of Religion, C.H. Mason University in San Diego, CA, Temple University in Philadelphia, Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary and the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta. As an administrator he has been Director of Black Programs at Northern Illinois University, Director of Recruitment for Morehouse College, Vice President of Student Affairs at Virgina University of Lynchburg and Administrative Dean and Chief Executive Officer of Morehouse School of Religion.
Rev. James was prominently featured in the critically- acclaimed, nationally-televised documentary "Images & Realities of the Black Male". He is a frequent guest on television and radio talk shows and a speaker in demand on college campuses around the country.
Rev. James is the father of six children -- four boys and two girls and the grandfather of eleven- seven girls and four boys. All six of his children have attended college, five on full academic scholarships.
