James A. Jennings was born in Wynnewood, Oklahoma in 1920. His life was one that left him remembered as a jurist, scholar and historian who preserved and recorded the proud history of the Chickasaw people.

He graduated from Oklahoma City University School of Law and served as legal counsel for Liberty National Bank for 20 years, retiring as a senior vice president of the bank in 1986. During that time he was also a teacher of commercial law for the American Institute of Banking and Oklahoma City Community College. He served his country in World War II and retired from the U.S. Army Reserve as a lieutenant colonel.

James is the great-great-grandson of Levi Colbert, a former civil chief of the Chickasaw Nation. Because of his roots, James was active in Chickasaw tribal historical and cultural affairs. He authored a historical novel which chronicled the removal of his Chickasaw ancestors to Oklahoma in the early 1830s.