James Arthur Calata was born at Debe Nek, near King William's Town in the Cape Province in 1895 and later trained as a teacher at St. Matthew's College, 1915-1920. In 1921 he left teaching to become an Anglican priest. He was ordained in 1926 as a Deacon in the Anglican Church in Port Elizabeth and, after a short spell at Somerset East, proceeded to Cradock where he served as minister from 1928 until his retirement in 1968.

The Rev. Calata, however, was also a central figure in African social and political life being involved in, amongst others, the Pathfinders Movement, the African Parents Association, the Society of Saint Ntsikana, and the African National Congress in 1930. In 1935 he acted as Chaplain of the A.N.C. and as Secretary General between 1936 and 1949 when he resigned because he was not in favour of the Programme for Action. He was instrumental in getting A. B. Xuma elected President of ANC as he saw he was able to attract more educated people within the movement.

He was held and tried for treason in 1956 and acquitted. He was banned in 1962 for having 2 twenty-year-old photographs of an ANC deputation on his wall.