Eugene Kinckle Jones (July 30, 1885 – January 11, 1954) was a leader of the

National Urban League The National Urban League (NUL), formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan historic civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of economic and social justice for Afri ...

and one of the seven founders (''commonly referred to as Seven Jewels'') of

Alpha Phi Alpha Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate List of African-American fraternities, historically African American Fraternities and sororities, fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the ...

fraternity at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

in 1906. Jones became

Alpha Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter ''aleph'' , whose name comes from the West Semitic word for ' ...

chapter's second President.

Early life

Jones was born in Richmond, Virginia to

Joseph Endom Jones Joseph Endom Jones (October 15, 1852–October 14, 1922) was an American Baptist minister and professor at the Richmond Theological Seminary and Virginia Union University in Richmond, Virginia from 1876 to 1922. He was a major leader in the Bapt ...

and Rosa Daniel Kinckle. He graduated from Richmond's

Virginia Union University Virginia Union University is a Private university, private Historically black colleges and universities, historically black university in Richmond, Virginia. History The American Baptist Home Mission Society (ABHMS) founded the school as Rich ...

in 1905 and Cornell University with a master's degree in 1908. In 1909, he married Blanche Ruby Watson, and they had six children. After graduation, he taught high school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana until 1911.Gates Jr, Henry Louis, and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, eds. African American Lives. Oxford University Press, 2004. p472-473

Alpha Phi Alpha

Jones organized the first three Fraternity chapters that branched out from Cornell:

Beta Beta (, ; uppercase , lowercase , or cursive ; or ) is the second letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 2. In Ancient Greek, beta represented the voiced bilabial plosive . In Modern Greek, it represe ...

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

Gamma Gamma (; uppercase , lowercase ; ) is the third letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 3. In Ancient Greek, the letter gamma represented a voiced velar stop . In Modern Greek, this letter normally repr ...

at Virginia Union University and the original

Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta"), the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * Delta Air Lines, a major US carrier ...

chapter at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

(now designated at

Huston–Tillotson University Huston–Tillotson University (HT) is a private historically black university in Austin, Texas, United States. Established in 1875, it was the first institution of higher learning in Austin. The university is affiliated with the United Methodis ...

). Jones was a member of the first ''Committees on Constitution and Organization'' and helped write the Fraternity

ritual A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally ...

. Jones also has the distinction of being one of the first initiates as well as an original founder. Jones' status as a founder was not finally established until 1952.

National Urban League and labor work

Jones, an organizer for the

(NUL) founded the Boston Urban League in 1917 and worked for racial equality in employment, housing, and health in Massachusetts. In 1918, Jones became the first Executive Secretary of the NUL. The League, under his direction, significantly expanded its multifaceted campaign to crack the barriers to black employment, spurred first by the boom years of the 1920s, and then, by the desperate years of the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. He implemented

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent resistance, nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organisation, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for Morality, moral, society, social, politics, political, or Environmenta ...

s against firms that refused to employ blacks, pressured schools to expand vocational opportunities for young people, constantly prodded Washington officials to include blacks in

New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...

recovery programs, and a drive to get blacks into previously segregated

labor unions A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

. When he became Executive Secretary, he recruited rising activist Lillian A. Turner Alexander as his own secretary. Together with Charles S. Johnson in 1923, he helped launch ''Opportunity'' a journal which addressed problems faced by blacks. In 1925, the National Conference of Social Work elected Jones treasurer, and he served the organization until 1933, rising to the position of Vice President. He was the first African American on its executive board. In 1933, Jones took a position with the

Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce (DOC) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government. It is responsible for gathering data for business ...

in Washington, D.C. as an advisor on Negro Affairs. In this role, Jones was a member of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

’s Black Cabinet, an informal group of

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

public policy advisors to the President.

Legacy

Jones retired from the NUL in 1940 and was succeeded by

Lester Granger Lester Blackwell Granger (September 16, 1896 – January 9, 1976) was an African American social worker, and civic leader who headed the National Urban League (NUL) from 1941 to 1961. Early life Granger was born on September 16, 1896, in Ne ...

. Jones’ correspondence with

Marian Anderson Marian Anderson (February 27, 1897April 8, 1993) was an American contralto. She performed a wide range of music, from opera to spirituals. Anderson performed with renowned orchestras in major concert and recital venues throughout the United S ...

in the Marian Anderson Papers, folder 2927, is held at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

References

External links