46 Facts About James Forman

James Forman was a prominent African-American leader in the civil rights movement.

James Forman was active in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the Black Panther Party, and the League of Revolutionary Black Workers.

James Forman taught at American University and other major institutions.

James Forman wrote several books documenting his experiences within the movement and his evolving political philosophy including Sammy Younge Jr.

James Forman was born on October 4,1928, in Chicago, Illinois.

James Forman was raised in a "dirt-poor" environment; it was not uncommon for him to eat dirt because it was believed to have some nutritional value.

She, being a school teacher, took an interest in accelerating James Forman' studying and gave him lessons at home.

The next day, news spread that a white man had been lynched although James Forman never learned why.

When James Forman was around the age of six he had his first experience with racial segregation.

James Forman was told that if he wanted to buy one that he would have to drink it in the back and not at the counter.

James Forman adjusted to his new life in Chicago fairly well, when playing with the neighborhood kids he would throw rocks and cans at white pedestrians and threw bricks off of roofs and onto police cars.

James Forman did so well there that he was allowed to skip the first semester of the seventh grade.

James Forman called Washington an "apologist" and often quoted Du Bois and his call for advancing blacks through education.

James Forman started his high school career by taking vocational courses instead of the general, pre-college coursework.

James Forman's real father was a cab driver that Forman coincidentally met and introduced himself to while working at his step-father's gas station.

When James Forman returned to high school he returned to general coursework and was an honors student.

James Forman received ROTC training and the Chicago Tribune Silver and Gold medal for efficiency as a non-commissioned officer; he was a lieutenant upon graduation.

James Forman was the honor student of his graduating class which landed him an interview in the Chicago Tribune.

Shortly after James Forman graduated from high school he was kicked out of his house after an argument with his stepfather.

James Forman tried to join the United States Army for a two-year period but because of a racial quota he had to settle on joining the United States Air Force for a period of three years.

James Forman was eventually able to raise enough money to attend the University of Southern California.

James Forman demanded a phone call and various other civil rights but instead was locked up for three days while being beaten and interrogated.

James Forman overcame his trauma and returned to Chicago in 1954.

James Forman's step-father died that summer and he enrolled at Roosevelt University that fall.

James Forman became president of the student body at Roosevelt and graduated in three years.

James Forman then went to graduate school at Boston University where he began to develop the ideas of a successful social movement.

James Forman wanted blacks to come together and start a visible movement.

James Forman knew the movement had to use nonviolent direct action, students, and it had to be started in the South.

James Forman was against monolithic, charismatic leaders because he wanted whatever was created to not die along with the leader.

In 1961, James Forman joined the newly formed Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

James Forman specifically questioned King's top-down leadership style, which he saw as undermining the development of local grassroots movements.

For example, following W G Anderson's invitation to King to join the Albany Movement, Forman criticized the move because he felt much harm could be done by interjecting the Messiah complex.

James Forman recognized that King's presence would detract from, rather than intensify, the focus on local people's leadership in the movement.

James Forman echoed the concerns of those in SNCC and the broader civil rights movement who saw the potential dangers of relying too heavily upon one dynamic leader.

James Forman did significant work for SNCC in the cultural community.

For instance, James Forman recruited the young folk star Bob Dylan to play benefits and rallies for SNCC.

Bevel accused James Forman of trying to divert people from the Selma campaign and of abandoning nonviolent discipline.

James Forman accused Bevel of driving a wedge between the student movement and the local black churches.

James Forman helped them negotiate a merger with the Black Panther Party from whom he had accepted the honorary the position of "Foreign Minister".

In 1969, after the failure of the merger with the Black Panthers, and the decline of SNCC as an effective political organization, James Forman began associating with other Black political radical groups.

James Forman founded a nonprofit organization called the Unemployment and Poverty Action Committee.

On May 30,1969, James Forman made plans to pursue a similar course at a Jewish Synagogue, Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York.

James Forman spent the rest of his adult life organizing black and disenfranchised people around issues of progressive economic and social development and equality.

James Forman taught at American University in Washington, DC James Forman wrote several books documenting his experiences within the movement and his evolving political philosophy including Sammy Younge Jr.

James Forman died on January 10,2005, of colon cancer, aged 76, at the Washington House, a hospice in Washington, DC.

James Forman was married to Mildred Thompson Forman from 1959 to 1965, during the most active period of SNCC.