Through July 4, The Post, in conjunction with the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream, is featuring US citizens explaining what the American dream means to them in 2026 — including Jimmie James, who lives in Pennsylvania and retired as an executive at Exxon.
My great-grandfather was born into slavery. But soon after, the Emancipation Proclamation was signed … That’s where my family starts — the tobacco and cotton plantations in east Texas.
My birth certificate had two words that were considered the most important identifiers of me at the time when I was born back in 1959. And that was “colored” and “illegitimate.” My mother raised eight kids that were born out of wedlock. She raised us all in poverty, but not a single one of us have lived today in poverty as an adult. We’ve all become productive members of society, contributing to society, having families, building a life, much better lives than we could have even imagined.
Where I grew up in a shack with no plumbing or electricity, my kids have grown up in a different world, and that’s a part of that progressing of the American dream — where those that came before me made the sacrifices and put in the hard work so that I would have a better life. And it fell upon me and my wife to give our kids a better life.
Courtesy of Jimmie James
I have no special gifts. The only gift I have was one that was really forged from a life where everything was hard. Even the simplest of things were hard. And you learn to never quit, to never give up. Who we are and who we become in life is determined at the intersection of adversity and aspirations. When your biggest hopes and dreams for your future are threatened by your biggest challenges, what do you do? Do you quit or do you dig deep and find a way to work it out?
The identifiers on my birth certificate made me feel less than or otherly. And so my biggest challenges were confronting my own sense of being different, of not being capable, of not being able to do the things that I would dream of. It was tackling my own fears. Something I’ve learned over life is that the monsters we fear the most are the ones we ourselves create.
The American Dream Video Project showcases real stories that illuminate pathways to opportunity. Featured at the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream (MCAAD), this series is part of the Center’s celebration of America’s 250th anniversary. MCAAD is Washington, DC’s newest cultural institution, offering interactive exhibits and stories about achieving the American Dream. For more information, visit mcaad.org.