19 Facts About James Calata

James Arthur Calata OLG was a South African priest and politician.

James Calata was the Secretary-General of the African National Congress from 1936 to 1949.

James Calata was appointed a canon of the Grahamstown Cathedral making him the first Black canon in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa.

James Arthur Calata was born in Debe Nek, near King William's Town in the Eastern Cape on 22 July 1895.

James Calata's father, James was an uneducated farmer and a Presbyterian.

James Calata's mother Eliza, reached Standard 4, practiced as a midwife and was an Anglican.

James Calata was educated at St Matthew's College in Keiskammahoek, from 1911 to 1914 and later worked as a teacher for a number of years.

James Calata married Miltha Mary Koboka in 1918, they went on to have three daughters.

James Calata was grandfather of Fort Calata who was a politician.

James Calata ministered in Cradock for forty years, then, after the removal of his congregation in the mid-1960s as a result of the Group Areas Act, he became the priest of the Church of the Ascension in the township of Lingelihle.

James Calata joined the African National Congress in 1930 and was elected as the Cape President from 1930 to 1949.

James Calata became Secretary-General of the ANC from 1936 to 1949, in his capacity as Secretary-general he was a signatory of the 1949 Program of Action.

James Calata did not stand for re-election as secretary-general during the national conference of December 1949 but, he remained a member of the national executive until 1956.

James Calata had been chosen as ANC's senior chaplain in 1950 and he later acted as Congress speaker.

James Calata was banned during the Defiance Campaign in 1952, although he was later allowed to continue conducting services.

James Calata's wife Miltha was a leader of those who defied apartheid laws and was later arrested.

James Calata founded a choir, Congress Choir which he composed songs for, that became prominent and allowed the choir to tour the Cape to raise funds for the ANC and for school bursaries.

James Calata was a canon of Grahamstown cathedral from 1959, later during the 1960s he served on the council of St Peter's, the Anglican College within the Federal Theological Seminary in Alice.

James Calata was kept under surveillance and lived under a banning order during 1968.