John Jones (abolitionist)

John Jones
Portrait of John Jones by Aaron E. Darling, circa 1865
John Jones c. 1865
Born1816
North Carolina, US
DiedMay 27, 1879 (age 63–64)
Chicago, Illinois, US
Occupation(s)Tailor, politician
SpouseMary Jane Richardson Jones
Children1

John Jones (1816 – May 27, 1879) was an American abolitionist, businessman, civil rights leader, and philanthropist. He was born in North Carolina and later lived in Tennessee. Arriving in Chicago with three dollars in assets in 1845, Jones rose to become a leading African-American figure in the early history of Chicago.

In Chicago, Jones opened a tailoring shop. He led a campaign to end the Black Codes of Illinois and was the first African-American to win public office in the state.[1][2] Jones was the first black man in the state of Illinois to serve on a grand jury in 1870, became a notary public in 1871 and the same year was elected to the Cook County Commission.[1][3] He also became become one of Chicago's wealthiest men through his successful tailoring business.[4]

Along with his wife, Mary Jane Richardson Jones, he was a dedicated abolitionist and philanthropist, turning their home into a stop on the Underground Railroad. The Jones' household was a center of abolitionist activity in the pre–Civil War era; the couple helped hundreds of fugitives fleeing slavery. Jones died in 1879 of kidney failure.

  1. ^ a b Junger, Richard (2008). "'God and man helped those who helped themselves': John and Mary Jones and the Culture of African American Self-Sufficiency in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Chicago". Journal of Illinois History. 11 (2): 111–32. hdl:2027/inu.30000125384218. OCLC 40045726. Archived from the original on May 12, 2021. Retrieved May 10, 2021 – via HathiTrust Digital Library.
  2. ^ Bontemps, Arna; Conroy, Jack (1945). "John Brown's Friend". They Seek A City. Garden City, New York: Doubleday Doran. p. 30. OCLC 1444797.
  3. ^ Naglich, Dennis. "The "Right Man in the Right Place": John Jones and the Early African American Struggle for Civil Rights". U.S. National Park Service. Archived from the original on December 10, 2021. Retrieved April 11, 2022.
  4. ^ Reed, Christopher Robert (2014). Knock at the Door of Opportunity: Black Migration to Chicago, 1900–1919. Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press. p. 105. ISBN 978-0-809-33334-9. OCLC 881417214.