Born on June 20, 1940 to James Marshall Rogers Sr. and Annie Gilmore Rogers, Rogers grew up in Durham, North Carolina and graduated from North Carolina College (NCCU) in 1962 with a degree in history. Following graduation he served as an officer in the U.S. Air Force and then as Deputy Director of the Neighborhood Youth Corps Community Action, Inc. during President Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty.”

After receiving an M.A. degree in history from Appalachian State University in 1970, he spent six years serving as a teacher at Durham High School. In 1972, he was named Teacher of the Year at the local, state and national  levels, becoming the first African American teacher to earn that distinction.

From 1976 until 1985, he taught history at Gaston College.

In 1985, Rogers joined the faculty of Phillips Academy where, until his retirement in 2004, he taught history and took on a wide variety of other roles,

According to the obituary that ran in the January 8, 2013, edition of Durham’s The Herald-Sun, “Jay loved teaching and feels that the teaching profession is one of the noblest to pursue and feels that education should never be denied to anyone nor should teachers ever abuse the trust of their pupils and their parents. An effective education is liberating and opens the doors to opportunities and life altering experiences.”

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