Adams was born August 14, 1906 in Columbia, South Carolina to the Reverend John Adams Sr. and Hattie Adams. Adams Sr. was an attorney and minister of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and served in the Unicameral after his son, from 1949 until his death in 1962. Adams attended Pueblo High School in Pueblo, Colorado before the family moved to Nebraska in 1923 and Adams attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he was one of 21 black students and the only black member of the Law School class of 1929. Adams participated in junior boxing, for instance coming in second in the middle weight class to Joe Ban in the April 1929 MidWestern AAU senior boxing championships. His brothers, Ralph W. and Harold S were also UNL alumni and Ralph W. was a graduate of the Law School and served as a lawyer in Omaha. Adams enlisted as an infantry officer in World War II in April, 1932 and was promoted to Captain as trial judge advocate at Camp Knight in Oakland, California. Ralph and Harold also served in the war. He returned to California and specialized in real estate law. In California, he continued to work for the Republican party, working with Ronald Reagan's gubernatorial election, but he said he voted for Jimmy Carter over Reagan for president. While Adams Jr. was the first black member of the Nebraska Unicameral, his predecessors in the Nebraska legislature include Matthew O. Rickets, John Andrew Singleton and Dr. Aaron Manasses McMillan. Adams married Constance Singleton in 1931, Constance was the daughter of Guy Singleton and Blanch Ellen Braxton. Guy was the brother of John Andrew and the son of Millard F. Singleton.
Law
Adams was initially a criminal lawyer and occasionally was involved in civil rights cases. In one case, he sued a restaurant who initially refused to serve him and his wife. When the police came and told the restaurant that the law required the restaurant to serve the Adams', the restaurant proceeded to serve a hamburger with an "inedible" amount of salt. Adams was initially told by the police that they didn't have civil rights complaint forms, and so he had to type up his own. Eventually the case went to court and Judge Lester Palmer found the restaurant guilty and ordered a fine of $40. The complaint was and the fine rescinded when the restaurant agreed to change its policy. In another incident, Adams was arrested for refusing to move to the Jim Crow section in the balcony of a movie theater. When he arrived at the station, the Police Chief released Adams and reprimanded the officer. Adams was also active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Later in life, he worked as a real estate lawyer. Adams was the first second-generation black lawyer in Nebraska and less than two years out of law school saw a case before the Nebraska Supreme Court.
Politics
John Adams Jr.'s first campaign for the state legislature was in 1932 when he ran in the tenth district against Democrat Edward J Dugan. In 1934 he won the election in the Ninth District Election against incumbent Democrat Johnny Owen and policeman Dan Phillips. He replaced Democrat Johnny Owen who was first elected in 1933. Owen's Republican predecessor in the ninth was Republican John Andrew Singleton, a black dentist with whom Adams had previous political involvement, forming the Consolidated Negro Political Organization in March 1933. The organization also included on its executive council John O. Wood, Andrew Stuart, and Harry Anderson. in 1936, Adams was opposed to the transformation of the Nebraska legislature to the unicameral form. He served in the 9th district of the House, a district bounded by Cumming Street, Pratt Street, 42nd Street, and the Missouri River. His new district, the fifth, in the Unicameral was to be expanded north to Ames and Sprague Streets, increasing the proportion of white voters. However, in the 1937 election, over 80 percent of his votes came from white voters and he defeated white Democrat, Edgar D Thompson. In the election, he noted his opposition to sales and income taxes, his support for governor appointment over election for judges, and support for unemployment insurance and educational financing. For the 1939 legislature, Adams Jr. defeated Dr. Harry Foster, campaigning against new taxes. Again for the 1941 legislature, Adams Jr. defeated Dr. Harry Foster, campaigning against new taxes and in support of various reforms to state and legislative processes. In the 1942 election, Adams lost to Foster after having fought modernization of Douglas County office procedure.
