“I wouldn’t even want to work at Goldman Sachs if they offered me a job. During his tenure at Unity, he worked his way up to vice president and general manager. He started at the Harlem business as an intern at age 18.Īfter serving one year as an intern, James was hired at Unity full-time and has been there ever since. Upon graduation, he moved to Newark, N.J., with one of his sisters and got the recommendation from a co-worker of hers about Unity Funeral Chapel. He earned his degree from the school in one year and was one of two Blacks in his graduating class. He attended Simmons Institute of Funeral Service in Syracuse, working nights at a post office to pay for his education. He recalls the move taking him from “a hot spot to a snow belt” due to the weather conditions and different environment. I never changed my mind about what I wanted to be, even when my mother wanted me to be a school principal.”Īfter graduating high school at the age of 16, James moved to upstate New York with an aunt and took a job as a factory worker. “They were very professional and well-dressed,” he said, “That was what impressed me. He said that during his grief, the funeral directors that handled his father’s passing caught his eye. Powell started the business in the mid-1950s.īorn and raised in the rural town of Glenwood, Ga., James said he became interested in the funeral home business at the age of 12 when he witnessed the death of his father. Working for the company since he was 18 years old, Unity is a Black-owned funeral home with three locations in the city. Serving 30 years at Unity Funeral Chapel, where he serves as vice president and general manager, retirement is not in his plans. Spending his entire adult life in the mortuary business, Clifford James has become a pillar in the Harlem business community.
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