Reverend Dr. James A. Forbes was born on September 6, 1935 in Burgaw, North Carolina. He received his B.S. degree in chemistry from Howard University in 1957 and his M.Div. degree from Union Theological Seminary in 1962. After pastoring Pentecostal Holiness Christian churches in North Carolina and Virginia, Forbes was campus minister for Virginia Union University in 1968. In 1975, Forbes earned his D.Min. degree from Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School before joining the Union Theological Seminary faculty in 1976. Riverside Church in New York City installed Forbes as Senior Minister in 1989, making him the first African American Senior Minister of one of the largest multicultural and interdenominational congregations in the U.S. In 1996, Newsweek recognized Forbes as one of the 12 "most effective preachers" in the English-speaking world. Then, in 2007, Forbes founded Healing of the Nations Foundation and retired from pastoring Riverside Church.
Alternative title
History Makers video oral history with Reverend Dr. James A. Forbes, Jr.