based in Willingboro. Working with the NAACP, he conducted a survey of Willingboro Plaza, the town's modern shopping development on Route 130, and found that no African-Americans were employed at the plaza. After negotiations with store owners, several African-Americans were soon employed there. James also filed a complaint against the U.S. Pipe Company in Burlington, New Jersey for maintaining separate shower facilities for African-Americans and failing to hire and promote Blacks. In the 1960s, James also helped to found the Burlington County Community Action Program to help needy residents of the County. James was transferred by ITT to Providence, Rhode Island in 1974. While living in Rhode Island, he became an ordained minister. He moved back to New Jersey in 1996 and once again became a community activist returning in 1999 to his former position as head of the County's NAACPBranch. He presented a resolution to then-New Jersey Governor Christine Whitman asking her to appoint a special commission to study why a majority of inmates in state prisons were minorities and to place a moratorium on the death penalty in New Jersey. The Governor denied both of those requests. Rev. James also brought the problem of minority incarceration to the attention of the National NAACP Convention. Trying to reduce the minority population in prison became known as the National Project. In 2001, Willingboro Township renamed the school in Pennypacker Park to W.R. James, Sr. Elementary School in his honor. He continues to reside in New Jersey. References 1920 births 2016 deaths Activists for African-American civil rights People from Vidalia, Louisiana Southern University alumni United States Army personnel of World War II