Richard James, III

Richard Charles James III was born on December 8, 1941 in the city of Thomasville, Georgia to his parents, Richard Charles James II and Lula Mae Armster James. He died peacefully on Saturday, November 9, 2024 at the age of 82.

Richard Charles James III was a Civil Rights activist, a public speaker, a broadcast and podcast professional, a published poet, a musician, a singer, and a business owner. He first came to Pennsylvania from Thomasville, Georgia as a child during the Great Migration of the 1940s with his parents and his two brothers, Curtis and Samuel. At that time, his father found work in the shipyards of Chester, Pennsylvania. While Chester may have been less volatile than the state of Georgia where he was born, segregation and discrimination still had a home in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Brought up in Chester, known then as the “Birmingham of the North,” Richard was determined to end the discrimination rampant in his hometown. He did not wait to graduate from high school to push against the unjust system. He began protesting as early as high school when a racist skating rink owner only allowed Black children to skate one night of the week on what became known as “Ebony Night.” In the frenzy, Richard was badly beaten by 8 officers and thrown in jail with other young protestors. Although he had suffered a concussion, he received no medical attention. From that experience, Richard became an activist and a leader in the Chester Movement.

He joined the NAACP Youth Council where he chaired the education committee and later became President. In his capacity as president, Richard helped organize many protests, the most important of which was the historic Education protests, a series of demonstrations in 1963 and 1964 that were reported nationally and led to the integration of Chester’s public schools. At the age of 22, Richard testified about the role he played in those protests and the police violence he endured at Governor William Scranton’s Pennsylvania Human Relations Committee on school desegregation.

These protests did not keep him from gaining an education. Richard graduated from Chester High School in 1960, attended PA Military College, Cheyney State University, and Chester Crozier Seminary (the school attended by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.) During the early 1960s, he solicited the aid of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to organize mass student protests in Chester to fight racial discrimination in jobs, housing, and services. In 1962 he organized the Chester Tutorial Project which offered academic assistance to 800 underserved students in the Chester area. In 1969, he was asked to design a Black Studies Program for students at Penn State University, Capital Campus. During the late 1960’s and early 1970s while residing in PA he worked as Director of Civil Rights for the PA Health Department, Regional Director of Civil Rights for The PA Department of Welfare and Deputy Director of the Philadelphia Urban League. Richard worked tirelessly with the NAACP to integrate public education in the Chester area.

In 1967, under the mentorship of the renowned community organizer, Saul Alinsky, Richard brought his Civil Rights activism and community organization skills to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania where he first served as Director of the Hill Street Community Action Center. Today’s Harrisburg residents can witness his soul-stirring speeches in the WITF documentary, A Time To Act, which was first televised in 1968 and more recently featured in Sankofa African American Theatre Company’s Black Film Festival. He was also interviewed in a documentary as one of Harrisburg’s Living Legends for his Civil Rights activism.

Richard’s first marriage was to the late activist and teacher Paulette Brown from Chester, PA. They had two children, Tara and Omari, but later divorced. During this time, he also welcomed another daughter, Kisha Pearsall into his life. In 1971 a beautiful young woman at a Civil Rights conference caught his attention when she rolled her eyes and said, “You are such an Uncle Tom!” He became determined to spend the next 50 years proving Mary Elizabeth Hatcher wrong.

After the couple married and celebrated the arrival of their daughter Maria, the family moved to Seattle, Washington where he continued his Civil Rights work with the Port of Seattle and through his writings. Richard authored 6 books of poetry and several articles for the Seattle Facts, worked as Editor of the Tacoma Facts, and independent contributor to the Philadelphia Tribune. Under the penname Omari Taraje, his poem, A Simple Poem for Mae, a tribute to Mae Jackson, was published by Broadside Press, a notable publisher of the Black Arts Movement. He was a member of the Black Media Association as a former radio/TV personality, having hosted a weekly program titled “Sunday Spotlight” aired on both AM and FM radio and a TV program titled “Over The Backyard Fence.”

His lecture topics have included motivation, African American History, Civil Rights, Affirmative Action, and public policy in presentations to audiences ranging from secondary schools and institutions of higher learning, military bases, corporations, associations, community organizations, and governmental entities.

Richard’s Civil Rights activism brought the family back to PA in 1987 when he was appointed as Director of The Bureau of Affirmative Action and Contract Compliance by the Honorable Robert P. Casey Sr, a position he served in for 8 years. In his quest for “fairness, not preference,” Richard was instrumental in ensuring that Governor Casey’s administration reflected a record of promoting and hiring more women and minority managers during his 8-year tenure than any governor in the history of the Commonwealth. This record included hiring the first Black head of the state police and the first Black female appointed to the Pa State Supreme court who was also the first Black female to sit on a State Supreme Court anywhere in the entire country. The Casey administration established a Governor’s Advisory Board on African American Affairs. In his quest to seek diversity and preserve the unique characteristics of all underserved groups, Richard fought to recognize the need to establish both a Governor’s Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs and a Governor’s Advisory Commission on Asian Affairs. The latter of which resulted in his being awarded the title of “Honorary Asian.” After 8 rewarding years under Governor Casey, Richard transitioned to serve as Director of Training/Equal Employment Opportunity/Minority Business Enterprise under the PA Auditor General Robert P. Casey, Jr.

Over the years Richard has been recognized with numerous awards for his activism and public speaking to include the John Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, the Dickenson College Honorary Doctorate of Juris Prudence, the Chester Branch NAACP George Raymond Civil Rights Award, and the Frederick Douglas Award as Founder and 1st President of the Seattle Area Frederick Douglas Club, to name a few.

His passion for the Motherland and Black history led him to serve on the Board of Directors of Black History Museums in Palmyra, New Jersey and Harrisburg, PA, as well as, establishing his own museum, Omari’s Place-African History Museum in Middletown, Pa. In recent years, he continued his outreach through his podcast, The Richard James Show on 17104 The Voice. He is also known for founding NAYO, an African drumming collective and his businesses, Omari’s Place African Museum in Middletown, and African Paradise located in the Lebanon Valley Farmers Market, where he sells a variety of art and clothing from the Motherland.

Richard loved working with youth. Under Harrisburg Mayor, Linda Thompson, he implemented the Great Debate Program to teach debating skills to Harrisburg City school students; with Nayo he offered free drumming classes to area youth; and he most enjoyed participating in the selection of scholarship awardees for the Boys and Girls Club. Richard enjoyed politics, cooking, and gardening. On occasion, he participated in Kings Who Cook. One of his fondest memories was hosting the “Legends, Lovers, and Liars Club” members … no ladies allowed! He also enjoyed membership in Imani African Christian Church under Reverand Nathaniel Gadsden where he delivered the ‘Sankofa’ message on black history on Sunday mornings.

Richard was preceeded in death by his parents, Richard C. and Lula Mae James, his brothers, Samuel and Curtis James, and his sister-in-law Linda James. Other notable relatives include the late actor Richard Roundtree, and sports trailblazer Jackie Robinson. Richard is survived by his wife Mary James, four children Tara James, Omari James, Kisha Pearsall, and Maria James-Thiaw. He is the grandfather of six grandsons-Jordan, Omari, Ijaz, Jeremiah, Mohammed, and Babacar and 3 adorable great-grand-daughters, Jewel, Eden, and Emeri.

Services for Mr. Richard James, III, will be held on Saturday, November 23rd at 11:00 AM at Walter Hooper Memorial Chapel, with viewing beginning at 10:00 AM.

Please continue to keep the James family in your thoughts and prayers.