COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Right Reverend Frederick Calhoun James passed away at the age of 102 over the weekend, according to The Christian Recorder.
Bishop James was born in 1922 in Prosperity, South Carolina. He earned his B.A. in History/English from Allen University and his Master of Divinity from Howard University School of Religion.
After his studies, Bishop James returned to South Carolina in 1947 and became the pastor of Wayman African Methodist Episcopal Church, Winnsboro; Chappelle Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Church, Columbia; and Mt. Pisgah African Methodist Episcopal Church in Sumter, a position that he held for 19 years.
James was also a professor at Allen University in Columbia and, later, Dean of Allen University’s Dickerson School of Theology. He was a champion for civil rights and became a community and state social and political action leader.
James was South Carolina’s first African American Congressional District member of the Department of Alcohol and Drug Abuse and the Department of Social Services.
From 1987 to 1992, he was a Columbia Housing Authority member and was vice chair. He also served as Vice President of the S. C. Christian Action Council.
In 1984, he was assigned to the 7th Episcopal District, State of South Carolina.
In 1993, he was given major fiscal and reconciliation duties as Bishop of the Second Episcopal District (Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia, and North Carolina) of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and he stabilized the District.
In 1994, he was selected by President Clinton as an official member of the delegation to attend the inauguration of South African President Nelson Mandela.
In 1998, he was again chosen to accompany President and Mrs. Clinton on an official visit to South Africa.
A life member of the NAACP, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, and a 33rd degree Mason, he was inducted into the South Carolina Black Hall of Fame (1991) and the Columbia Housing Authority Wall of Fame (1994). In January 2003, Bishop James was awarded the state’s highest honor, The Order of the Palmetto, for his significant contributions to South Carolina.
He and his wife, Theressa, retired from active duty in 1996 and came to live at home in Columbia.
At the time of his death, Bishop James was the oldest living bishop in all Methodism.
He was predeceased by his wife of seventy-six years, Dr. Theressa Gregg James, in 2021.
No word yet on funeral arrangements.