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James E. Stewart was born in Plano, Texas, September 16, 1912, son of Reverend Zena T. Stewart and Maggie Feglee Stewart. Reverend Stewart, an oil mill laborer, moved to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1926.
James attended Orchard Park Elementary School from kindergarten through the sixth grade. At age 14, James and his mother moved to Wichita, Kansas. He enrolled in the 10th grade at Wichita and observed for the first time the vast difference in "separate but equal" schools. While at Wichita North High School, he became the first of his race to "make" a Wichita high school football team as well as the All-City team. James graduated from Wichita High North in 1931
James moved back to Oklahoma City and worked as a theater manager, restaurant owner operator, and later table waiter at numerous places. It was while working as captain of banquet services at the old Biltmore Hotel that the late Thomas H. Sterling, Oklahoma City District Manager for the Oklahoma Natural Gas Company, asked James to take a job as janitor for his firm. Within a short period, after joining Oklahoma Natural, through the friendly overtures of fellow employees, the waiter turned janitor was sorting mail, making local office supply purchases, operating the Addressograph machine and performing other nontraditional duties.
His activities in the formation of a Douglass High- -Langston Athletic Association to strengthen the sports program at these schools and his efforts to have the city provide a swimming pool for Negroes drew the attention of Editor Roscoe Dunjee, Publisher of the Black Dispatch Newspaper. Thus he was invited to join the Negro Business League.
Jimmys civic endeavors prior to 1942 were primarily limited to the Negro Business League on the local and national level. Meanwhile, officials on both the local level and corporate headquarters at Tulsa of the Oklahoma Natural Gas Company observed Jimmys activities and decided to establish an Eastside office with Jimmy as manager.
Without his knowledge or consent, Jimmy was elected vice-president of the Oklahoma City Branch NAACP in 1942. Shortly thereafter the president of the Oklahoma City local branch moved to California. Veteran local NAACPers frowned on the young upstarts elevation to the presidency, but Editor Dunjee insisted that the position would be Stewarts. Thus, without prior knowledge or experience Jimmy Stewart was thrust into the field of Civil rights and remained active more than a third of a century.
James attended Orchard Park Elementary School from kindergarten through the sixth grade. At age 14, James and his mother moved to Wichita, Kansas. He enrolled in the 10th grade at Wichita and observed for the first time the vast difference in "separate but equal" schools. While at Wichita North High School, he became the first of his race to "make" a Wichita high school football team as well as the All-City team. James graduated from Wichita High North in 1931
James moved back to Oklahoma City and worked as a theater manager, restaurant owner operator, and later table waiter at numerous places. It was while working as captain of banquet services at the old Biltmore Hotel that the late Thomas H. Sterling, Oklahoma City District Manager for the Oklahoma Natural Gas Company, asked James to take a job as janitor for his firm. Within a short period, after joining Oklahoma Natural, through the friendly overtures of fellow employees, the waiter turned janitor was sorting mail, making local office supply purchases, operating the Addressograph machine and performing other nontraditional duties.
His activities in the formation of a Douglass High- -Langston Athletic Association to strengthen the sports program at these schools and his efforts to have the city provide a swimming pool for Negroes drew the attention of Editor Roscoe Dunjee, Publisher of the Black Dispatch Newspaper. Thus he was invited to join the Negro Business League.
Jimmys civic endeavors prior to 1942 were primarily limited to the Negro Business League on the local and national level. Meanwhile, officials on both the local level and corporate headquarters at Tulsa of the Oklahoma Natural Gas Company observed Jimmys activities and decided to establish an Eastside office with Jimmy as manager.
Without his knowledge or consent, Jimmy was elected vice-president of the Oklahoma City Branch NAACP in 1942. Shortly thereafter the president of the Oklahoma City local branch moved to California. Veteran local NAACPers frowned on the young upstarts elevation to the presidency, but Editor Dunjee insisted that the position would be Stewarts. Thus, without prior knowledge or experience Jimmy Stewart was thrust into the field of Civil rights and remained active more than a third of a century.
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