Jones, Robert Elijah, 1872-1960
Dates
- Existence: 1872 - 1960
Biographical Statement
Robert Elijah Jones (1872-1960), an African American Methodist Episcopalian clergyman, was the editor of the Southwestern Christian Advocate for 16 years, a general superintendent for the Methodist Episcopal Church in New Orleans, and the founder of the Gulfside Assembly in Waveland, Mississippi. Jones dedicated his career to religion, the racial unification of the Methodist Episcopal Church, racial equality, community development, and education. Jones worked as the editor of the Southwestern Christian Advocate between 1904 and 1920. In 1920, Jones became the first African American general superintendent for the Methodist Episcopal Church, where he lived and worked in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1923, Jones founded Gulfside Assembly in Waveland, Mississippi, which was the first recreational area along the Gulf Coast that was accessible to African Americans.
Robert E. Jones was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, on February 19, 1872, to Sidney Dallas Jones and Mary Jane Jones. In 1891, at the age of 19, Jones entered the ministry and received a license to preach. He became the pastor at a rural church in Leaksville, North Carolina, and became an ordained deacon of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1895, Jones earned a B.A. from Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina. After leaving Bennett College, Jones pursued a Bachelor of Divinity at Gammon Theological Seminary in Atlanta.
After graduating from Gammon in 1897, Jones moved to New Orleans in to work as the assistant manager of the Southwestern Christian Advocate. The Advocate was an African American newspaper that operated through the Methodist Church. Jones remained the assistant manager of the publication until 1901, when he became a field secretary agent for the Board of Sunday Schools of the Methodist Episcopal Church. As field secretary, he promoted the development of Sunday school work in African American churches. That same year, on January 2, Jones married Valena C. McArthur, a teacher in the public schools of New Orleans. Together, they had three children: Grace C. Jones, Mary Jones Broussard, and Robert Elijah Jones, Jr. Valena C. Jones died on January 13, 1917.
In May 1904, the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church elected Jones to be the editor of the Southwestern Christian Advocate. Every 4 years, for 16 years, he was re-elected, almost by unanimous vote, as the editor of the publication by the General Conference. As editor of the publication, Jones wrote many articles related to race, unification of the Methodist Church, distinguished individuals, and many other topics. After committing 16 years, he became the longest serving editor of the publication.
In 1908, Jones was elected to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. At the time, Jones was the only African American minister to be a member of the Joint Commission on the Unification of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church South. In this position, he represented around 350,000 African Americans who were in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
During the 1920 General Conference, Jones was the first African American elected as a general superintendent. Prior to his election, African American bishops often only held missionary posts. As general superintendent, Jones became the resident bishop of the New Orleans area, with an office and residence in New Orleans. His area comprised seven conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas. In total, Jones was responsible for 1,905 churches.
That same year, on February 20, 1920, Jones re-married to Harriet Elizabeth Brown of Meadville, Pennsylvania, who taught in the Sumner High School of St. Louis, Missouri. Together, the couple had two children: Catherine Jones Knox and William McDowell Jones.
In 1923, Jones founded the Gulfside Assembly in Waveland, Mississippi, which was an institution operated by the Methodist Church for religious, educational, and recreational purposes. Jones, along with the Gulfside Association, purchased a large piece of land along the Gulf Coast known by the name of Gulf Side Chautauqua and Camp Meeting Ground. At the time, Gulfside was the only location along the Gulf Coast that was accessible for recreational purposes for African Americans. Deeded to the Board of Trustees of the Gulfside Association, the property served as a meeting place for African Americans and whites alike in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Moreover, Jones used the meeting grounds to develop African American leadership. Jones remained committed to Gulfside throughout his life and worked to expand the property and programs.
In addition to serving as the general superintendent in New Orleans, Jones also participated in a variety of other commissions and boards, such as the Episcopal Representative to the newly merged Board of Education for the Methodist Episcopal Church. At the first meeting of the Board of Education in February 1925, the Board unanimously chose Jones to serve as the chairperson of the Department of Educational Institutions for Negroes.
Jones was also closely associated with Booker T. Washington in many of his projects to raise the educational and economic levels of African Americans in the South. Jones was the president of the first Negro Business League in Louisiana, was instrumental in founding the Dryades Street Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in New Orleans, and played a prominent part in the establishment of the reorganized Flint-Goodridge Hospital in New Orleans. Jones also participated in the founding of the Louisiana Life Insurance Company. At the Dryades Street YMCA, he sponsored city-wide Sunday afternoon services in churches of different denominations to emphasize the need for a YMCA in New Orleans and to stimulate interest of the achievement of this goal.
Throughout his lifetime, Jones was committed to many organizations dedicated to education and community development. Jones was a part of the National Business League, the Southern Inter-Racial Movement, and the National Council of the YMCA and other movements. After a flood disaster, Jones was the chairperson of the Negro Commission and advisor to Red Cross officials. He was also the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Wiley and Samuel Houston Colleges in Marshall and Austin, Texas; New Orleans College in New Orleans; Rust College in Holly Springs, Mississippi; Haven's Teachers' College in Meridian, Mississippi; and Flint-Goodridge Hospital and Nurse Training School in New Orleans. Jones was also one of the founding trustees of Dillard University.
In additional pursuits to improve religious education, Jones founded the Gammon Theological Seminary Alumni Lectureship. As an alumnus of Gammon, he saw the necessity for endowing a lectureship at Gammon that would bring each year an outstanding religious leader of the highest type for a week's lectures to the faculty, students, alumni, and friends. In addition to starting the lecture series, Jones participated by speaking at the series in 1951.
Jones was a member of many organizations throughout his lifetime. He was a 33rd degree Mason and a member of many boards and commissions of churches. Jones was also a member of the Phi Alpha and Sigma Pi Phi fraternities, the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, the Committee on Negro Churches of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ, the International Committee of the YMCA, the Inter-Racial Commission, the Executive Committee of the Board of Education for Negroes, President of the Colored YMCA in New Orleans, CP of International YMCA Conventions, the Father and Son National Committee, as well as the President of the Gulfside Association.
Throughout his lifetime, Jones received a variety of honors and awards for his commitment to religious service. In 1927, Jones received the Harmon Foundation's bronze medal for religious service, and in 1929, he received its gold medal. Jones also received several honorary degrees over his lifetime from schools across the country. Jones received a Litt. C. from New Orleans University in 1901, Doctor of Laws from Howard University in Washington, D.C. in 1911, Doctor of Divinity from Gammon Theological Seminary in 1905, Doctor of Divinity from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut in 1918, Doctor of Law from Morgan College in 1937, and a Doctor of Law from Lincoln in 1940.
Jones retired from the active ministry in 1944 as the General Superintendent at the Jurisdictional Conference held in Greensboro, North Carolina, and spent the rest of his life serving as the Director of Operations at Gulfside Assembly.
Jones died at the age of 88 on May 18, 1960, at Flint-Goodridge Hospital in New Orleans and is buried at the Gulfside Assembly in Waveland, Mississippi.