Life Story
Making Adjustments Has Been Rewarding
As told by James A. Thompson
I was born in 1928 in the southern part of the United States. At that time, there were laws that made black people and white people stay separate from one another. Anyone who broke these laws could be put in prison or punished in worse ways.
AT THAT time in parts of the United States, white and black Jehovah’s Witnesses had to have separate congregations, circuits, and districts. In 1937 my father became company servant (now called coordinator of the body of elders) of the black congregation in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Henry Nichols was company servant of the white congregation.
I have many happy memories of when I was young. I used to sit outside our house at night with my father and Brother Nichols and listen to them talk. Even though I did not understand everything, I enjoyed being with my father and listening to the two of them talking about the best way to do the preaching work in those times.
Some years earlier, in 1930, something terrible happened. My mother died, and she was only 20 years old. So my father had to take care of my sister, Doris, and me. She was four years old, and I was only two. Although my father had not been baptized for very long, he was doing well in the truth.
GOOD EXAMPLES FOR ME
In 1933 my father met a wonderful sister named Lillie Mae Gwendolyn Thomas, and they got married. Both of them loyally served Jehovah and were good examples for Doris and me.
In 1938 the organization changed the way elders were appointed in the congregations. Instead of being elected locally, they were to be appointed from our headquarters in Brooklyn, New York. All congregations were asked to support this decision. Some of the brothers in Chattanooga did not want to accept the change immediately, but my father completely supported this change. His example of loyalty as well as the way my stepmother cooperated with him has helped me to this day.
BAPTISM AND FULL-TIME MINISTRY
In 1940 several brothers and sisters in our congregation rented a bus and traveled to the convention held in Detroit, Michigan. Some of those who traveled with us got baptized there. I had been preaching regularly since I was five years old, so some wanted to know why I did not get baptized.
When they asked me about it, I answered: “I don’t understand all that is involved in baptism.” My answer surprised my father. So after that, he tried to do more to help me understand what baptism means and why it is important. On a very cold day four months later, October 1, 1940, I was baptized in a pond outside of Chattanooga.
When I was 14 years old, I began pioneering during summer vacations from school. I preached in small towns in Tennessee and the state of Georgia nearby. I used to get up early and prepare lunch to take with me. Then I would catch a train or a bus at six in the morning to go to the territory. I returned home about six in the evening. Often I finished my food before lunchtime and wanted to buy some more. Although I had money, I could not enter a store because I was black. One time, I entered a store to buy ice cream and was asked to leave. But a white woman was very kind and brought me some ice cream.
When I started to attend high school, people in the South were becoming more and more active in support of equal rights. Some groups such as the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) urged students to fight for equal rights. Several black schools wanted all the students to become members of such groups. People in my school pressured me to do this and said that I should “support our race.” But I refused. I explained that God does not prefer one race over another and that I trust in God to do away with all injustices.—John 17:14; Acts 10:34, 35.
Soon after I finished high school, I decided to move to New York City. On the way, I stopped in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and stayed with some of my friends whom I had met at a convention. The congregation there was the first one I attended where white and black brothers met together. The traveling overseer was visiting, and he told me that he was going to assign me a part on the next meeting. This helped me decide to stay there.
One of my friends in Philadelphia was a young sister named Geraldine White, or Gerri as I call her. She knew the Bible well and was good at talking to people in the ministry. It was important to me that like me, she wanted to pioneer. We were married on April 23, 1949.
INVITED TO GILEAD
It was our goal to attend Gilead School and serve as missionaries in another country. Meanwhile, we were happy to serve where there was a need, which would help us to prepare for Gilead. Soon we were asked to move to serve in Lawnside, New Jersey; then to Chester, Pennsylvania; and finally to Atlantic City, New Jersey. While we were serving there, we could apply for Gilead because we had been married for two years. But there was a problem.
During the early part of the 1950’s, many young men were being drafted to serve in the military and fight in the conflict going on in Korea. The draft board in Philadelphia did not want to excuse me from military service. It seemed that they were prejudiced against Jehovah’s Witnesses because we do not go to war. But finally a judge informed me that the FBI had investigated me and decided that I was truthful when I claimed to be neutral. So on January 11, 1952, the Presidential Appeal Board excused me from military service because I was a minister of religion.
In August of that year, Gerri and I received an invitation to attend the 20th class of Gilead, which started in September. We were sure that we would be sent to another country. My sister, Doris, had attended the 13th class of Gilead and was serving in Brazil. But we were very surprised when we were sent to the southern state of Alabama to serve in the circuit work and visit black congregations. Since we really wanted to serve in another country, we were a little disappointed.
The first congregation we visited was in Huntsville, where we stayed at the home of a sister. When we were bringing our luggage into her house, we heard her say on the telephone, “The children are here.” We were only 24 years old and looked even younger. During the time we served that circuit, we were called by the nickname The Children.
Most people in the South had a lot of respect for the Bible. That is why that area of the United States is known as the Bible Belt. So when we were in the ministry, we would talk to people about three things:
(1) World conditions.
(2) The hope that the Bible gives.
(3) What the Bible says we must do.
After we discussed these things with a person, we showed him a publication that would help him to get to know the Bible. Since I had good results with this method, I was asked to demonstrate it at the 1953 New World Society Assembly in New York.
In the summer of 1953, I was asked to serve black circuits in the South as district overseer. Our territory was from Virginia to Florida and as far west as Alabama and Tennessee. Traveling overseers had to be prepared for different situations. For example, we often stayed in homes that had no bathrooms inside the house, and we bathed in a tin bathtub behind the kitchen stove. We were happy because this was the warmest part of the house.
DIFFICULTIES BECAUSE OF RACIAL PREJUDICE
When we were serving the congregations in the South, we had to think of clever ways to do certain things. Blacks were not allowed to use the public laundry rooms. So Gerri would go there and explain that the clothes were for “Mrs. Thompson.” Many seemed to think that she was a servant for someone named Mrs. Thompson. At that time, district overseers were showing the film The New World Society in Action on large screens. When I needed such a screen, I used to telephone the store and ask for a screen for “Mr. Thompson.” Later, I went there to get it. We were always polite, and we usually had no trouble in the ministry.
In the South, there was another form of prejudice. Many people did not like those from the North. A newspaper once reported that James A. Thompson, Jr., of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York would be speaking at an assembly. Some thought that I was from New York. So the school board canceled our contract, and we could not use a school hall for our circuit assembly. I went to the board and explained that I had gone to school in Chattanooga. Then the board gave us permission to use the hall for our assembly.
In the 1950’s, racial prejudice was causing more and more problems, and sometimes people were violent. In 1954, some Witnesses were offended when there were no black speakers on the program at a number of district conventions. We encouraged our black brothers to be patient. The following summer, I was assigned as a speaker. After that year, more black brothers in the South were assigned as speakers on the programs.
In time, there was less and less racial violence in the South. White brothers and black brothers began to attend meetings together. So some publishers were asked to join other congregations, and congregation territories had to be changed. Also, overseers had to take care of new responsibilities. Some, both blacks and whites, did not like this new arrangement. But most of the brothers imitated Jehovah and were not partial. Many had good friends of different races. I had experienced this in our family when I was growing up in the 1930’s and 1940’s.
A NEW ASSIGNMENT
In January 1969, Gerri and I received an invitation to go to Guyana, South America. We were happy to go there. First we went to Brooklyn, New York, where I received training on how to organize the preaching work in Guyana. We arrived there in July 1969. After 16 years in the traveling work, it was a big change for us to stay in one place. Gerri spent most of her days in the field ministry as a missionary, and I worked at the branch office.
I did many different tasks at the branch office. I would cut the grass, send the literature requested by the 28 congregations, and communicate with headquarters in Brooklyn by mail. I was working 14 to 15 hours each day. It was hard work for both of us, but we enjoyed our service in Guyana. When we arrived, there were 950 publishers. Today there are over 2,500.
In Guyana, the temperatures were pleasant, and there were many tropical fruits and vegetables that we liked. But what made us really happy were the humble people who wanted to learn what the Bible teaches about God’s Kingdom. Gerri often conducted 20 Bible studies each week. Many of these people got baptized, and some of them became pioneers, elders, and even went to Gilead to become missionaries.
PROBLEMS AND POOR HEALTH
In 1983 my parents in the United States needed help. Doris, Gerri, and I met to discuss what to do. Doris, who had served for 35 years as a missionary in Brazil, chose to return and care for them. She reasoned that if she went back, only one missionary would have to leave an assignment instead of two missionaries. After our parents died, Doris stayed in Chattanooga, and she now serves as a special pioneer.
In 1995, I learned that I had prostate cancer and had to return to the United States. We went to live in Goldsboro, North Carolina. This was halfway between my family in Tennessee and Gerri’s family in Pennsylvania. My cancer is now under control. We serve in one of the congregations in Goldsboro as infirm special pioneers.
I have been in the full-time ministry for over 65 years. I am truly grateful that Jehovah has blessed Gerri and me for being willing to make changes to serve him. We can say that the words of David have been true in our life. David said about Jehovah: “With someone loyal you will act in loyalty.”—2 Samuel 22:26.
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My father and Brother Nichols set a fine example for me
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Ready for Gilead, 1952
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After attending Gilead, we were in the traveling work in the South
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Traveling overseers and their wives preparing for an integrated district convention, 1966
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Missionary service in Guyana was a joy