James A. Forbes

Reverend Dr. James Alexander Forbes, Jr. was born on September 6, 1935 in Burgaw, North Carolina and is senior minister emeritus of the Riverside Church in New York, the first African American to lead the congregation. After graduation from Howard University in 1957, he was denied acceptance to Duke University's Divinity School--informed that Blacks were not welcome. He completed his master of divinity at Union Theological Seminary and his doctor of ministry at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School. He was an activist professor at Union and in the Riverside pulpit, and remains so today. He resides in Raleigh, North Carolina, near his birthplace, with his wife Bettye Franks Forbes and their son James A. Forbes III.