Portia James

Portia James (March 11, 1953 - December 2, 2015) was an American curator and historian. A specialist in African-American material culture, she worked as the cultural resources manager of the Anacostia Community Museum.

James graduated from Wayne State University, and Howard University.

James' exhibition work included The Real McCoy: African American Invention and Innovation, 1619-1930 (1989); Black Mosaic: Community, Race and Ethnicity among Black Immigrants in Washington, DC (1994); Down Through the Years: Stories from the Anacostia Museum Collection (1996); East of the River: Continuity and Change (2007); Jubilee: African American Celebration (2008); Exercise Your Mynd: Bk Adams I AM ART (2012); Arture (2012); Ubuhle Women: Beadwork and the Art of Independence (2013); and Hand of Freedom: The Life and Legacy of the Plummer Family (2015). She researched the life of Leslie J. Payne.

• James, Portia. "Building a Community-Based Identity at Anacostia Museum." Curator: The Museum Journal. 39:1 (1996): 19-44.
• James, Portia. The Real McCoy: African-American Invention and Innovations, 1619-1930. Washington: Smithsonian Institution (1990). ISBN 0874745578
• James, Portia. Building Immigrant Community Life in Washington DC: A Public History Approach," Trotter Review, Vol. 10: Iss. 1, Article 4