  james forman (october 4, 1928 â january 10, 2005) was an american civil rights leader active in the student nonviolent coordinating committee, the black panther party, and the international black workers congress. he received a masterâs degree in african and afro-american studies from cornell university in 1980 and a ph.d from the union of experimental colleges and universities with the institute for policy studies in washington, d.c. he founded james forman and associates, a political consulting group. during the 1990s, he taught at american university, the university of the district of columbia and morgan state university in baltimore.library of congress acquires papers of civil rights activist james forman he was also the author of several notable books. the new york times called him "a civil rights pioneer who brought a fiercely revolutionary vision and masterly organizational skills to virtually every major civil rights battleground in the 1960's."douglas martin "james forman dies at 76; was pioneer in civil rights" the new york times, january 12, 2005 ==early life and education== forman was born on october 4, 1928 in chicago, illinois. as an 11-month-old baby he was sent to live with his grandmother, "mama jane", on her farm in marshall county, mississippi. he 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. in his autobiography, he called eating dirt a "staple" of his diet. he recalls being "hungry all the time." his family had no outhouse and no electricity. they used leaves, newspapers, and corncobs for toilet paper and they used twigs off of trees as their toothbrushes. despite these things, forman claims to have never questioned his poverty and did not understand it at the time. his aunt thelma once caught james reading a shopping catalog in the dark. she, being a school teacher, took an interest in accelerating james' studying and gave him lessons at home. james credits his upbringing for his eventual successes,saying his grandmother gave him a sense for justice while his aunt gave him his "intellectual fi
1928_births 2005_deaths 20th-century_African-American_activists African-American_atheists African-American_writers African-Americans\'_civil_rights_activists American_atheists Cancer_deaths_in_Washington,_D.C. Deaths_from_colorectal_cancer Student_Nonviolent_Coordinating_Committee Writers_from_Chicago,_Illinois