Laurence C. Jones
Encyclopedia
Laurence Clifton Jones was the founder and long-time president of Piney Woods Country Life School
in the United States state
of Mississippi
. A noted educational innovator, Jones spent his adult life supporting the educational advancement of rural African American students in the segregated
South
.
in Marshalltown, Iowa
. Jones came from a family of educators, with an uncle who founded the Woodstock Manual Labor Institute in Michigan
in 1846. Before he was married to her, his future wife was the founder of the Grace M. Allen Industrial School for African American students in Burlington, Iowa
.
After graduating from the University of Iowa
in 1908 Jones turned down an offer to teach at the prestigious Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, instead opting to teach at the small Utica Institute, a school for African American children located in Utica, Mississippi
. While he was there he was recruited by the congregation of St. John's Baptist Church of D'Lo, Mississippi
to found a school. The efforts of the church to start a school for their children had been initially checked by white residents of the area.
, which had an eighty percent illiteracy rate, that Jones identified his personal mission. In 1909 Jones agreed to teach a poor youngster to read, and soon found himself teaching a small group of students. He started the Piney Woods School with just $2 and three students. A local freed slave named Ed Taylor gave Jones 40 acres (161,874.4 m²) and an abandoned sheep shed to start his Piney Woods School
.
After getting married to Grace Morris Allen in 1912, Jones built a larger school to accommodate the large number of students interested in attending. A local white sawmill owner donated the wood for that building, and dozens of other donations started coming in, including cattle for milk, a large amount of land near the school, and cash. Throughout the rest of her life, Grace was pivotal in helping her husband fund-raise for the school, and by teaching courses in domestic science.
In his popular book How to Stop Worrying and Start Living
, author and motivator Dale Carnegie
told a story of how Jones had survived a near-lynching
in 1918 by demonstrating to the white mob how passionate he was about his efforts to educate African American children. Several accounts support Carnegie's account that after being persuaded not to lynch him, the crowd actually ended up collecting money to give to Jones to support his school.
model" of training African Americans to be good workers. He followed the Jim Crow social codes of the South, and consequently his school thrived without controversy and with encouragement from white people
throughout Mississippi. Jones taught students about agriculture
, carpentry
, dairy
farming and construction
, and under his guidance students were responsible for building many of the facilities on the campus, starting with a boys' dorm in 1922.
In 1929, with the arrival of Martha Louise Morrow Foxx
to serve as principal, the Mississippi Blind School for Negroes was founded on the campus; it eventually moved to Jackson, Mississippi
.
With assistance from his wife Jones led several singing groups across the South, the Midwest
and the East
on fundraising tours. The schools' Five Blind Boys of Mississippi
, the Cotton Blossom Singers and the International Sweethearts of Rhythm
were three of several acts. Beginning in the 1930s, the school also sponsored baseball teams as part of the fund-raising efforts. Jones appeared on the This Is Your Life
television show in the 1950s, and after telling his story asked viewers to each send in $1 to support the school. This bid eventually raised $700,000, with which Jones began the schools' endowment fund, which was reported to be at $7,000,000 when Jones died in 1975.
, Cornell College
, University of Dubuque
, and Otterbein College. He also earned an honorary Masters in Arts from the Tuskegee Institute.
He was recognized for his contributions to the education of African American children by the University of Iowa when college president Virgil Hancher named him one of the University's most outstanding alumni in 1954. Jones also sat on boards for the Mississippi Federation of Colored Women's Clubs and the state executive committee for the Y.M.C.A.. He was also the author of several books, including Up Through Difficulties, published in 1910, Piney Woods and Its Story, published in 1923, and The Bottom Rail, published in 1933.
Jones received the Silver Buffalo Award
, the highest commendation of the Boy Scouts of America
, in 1970.
, was part of the influential World War II-era and she was a swing band called the International Sweethearts of Rhythm
, which was originally formed at the school. His granddaughter, Cathy Hughes
, still sits on the board of Piney Woods, and in the 1990s his great-grandson Sidney Jones attended the school.
In 2007 the U.S. Congress dedicated the Laurence C. and Grace M. Jones Post Office Building in Piney Woods, Mississippi
in honor of the couples' legacy in the community.
Piney Woods Country Life School
The Piney Woods Country Life School is a co-educational independent historically African-American boarding school for grades 9-12 in Piney Woods, Mississippi. It is one of four remaining historically African-American boarding schools in the United States...
in the United States state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
. A noted educational innovator, Jones spent his adult life supporting the educational advancement of rural African American students in the segregated
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
South
Deep South
The Deep South is a descriptive category of the cultural and geographic subregions in the American South. Historically, it is differentiated from the "Upper South" as being the states which were most dependent on plantation type agriculture during the pre-Civil War period...
.
Early life
Jones was born in St. Joseph, Missouri, and graduated from Marshalltown High SchoolMarshalltown High School
Marshalltown High School is located in Marshalltown, Iowa and is home to 1,600 students in grades 9-12.-History:The first Marshalltown High School was located north of downtown Marshalltown on Grant Street before moving to the present Miller Middle School...
in Marshalltown, Iowa
Marshalltown, Iowa
Marshalltown is a city in and the county seat of Marshall County, Iowa, United States. The population was 27,552 in the 2010 census, an increase from the 26,009 population in the 2000 census. -History:...
. Jones came from a family of educators, with an uncle who founded the Woodstock Manual Labor Institute in Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
in 1846. Before he was married to her, his future wife was the founder of the Grace M. Allen Industrial School for African American students in Burlington, Iowa
Burlington, Iowa
Burlington is a city in, and the county seat of Des Moines County, Iowa, United States. The population was 25,663 in the 2010 census, a decline from the 26,839 population in the 2000 census. Burlington is the center of a micropolitan area including West Burlington, Iowa and Middletown, Iowa and...
.
After graduating from the University of Iowa
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
in 1908 Jones turned down an offer to teach at the prestigious Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, instead opting to teach at the small Utica Institute, a school for African American children located in Utica, Mississippi
Utica, Mississippi
Utica is a town in Hinds County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 966 at the 2000 census. It is the location of the URJ Henry S...
. While he was there he was recruited by the congregation of St. John's Baptist Church of D'Lo, Mississippi
D'Lo, Mississippi
D'Lo is a town in Simpson County, Mississippi, along the Strong River. The population was 394 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area....
to found a school. The efforts of the church to start a school for their children had been initially checked by white residents of the area.
Founding Piney Woods
It was when he learned about rural Rankin County, MississippiRankin County, Mississippi
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 115,327 people, 42,089 households, and 31,145 families residing in the county. The population density was 149 people per square mile . There were 45,070 housing units at an average density of 58 per square mile...
, which had an eighty percent illiteracy rate, that Jones identified his personal mission. In 1909 Jones agreed to teach a poor youngster to read, and soon found himself teaching a small group of students. He started the Piney Woods School with just $2 and three students. A local freed slave named Ed Taylor gave Jones 40 acres (161,874.4 m²) and an abandoned sheep shed to start his Piney Woods School
Piney Woods Country Life School
The Piney Woods Country Life School is a co-educational independent historically African-American boarding school for grades 9-12 in Piney Woods, Mississippi. It is one of four remaining historically African-American boarding schools in the United States...
.
After getting married to Grace Morris Allen in 1912, Jones built a larger school to accommodate the large number of students interested in attending. A local white sawmill owner donated the wood for that building, and dozens of other donations started coming in, including cattle for milk, a large amount of land near the school, and cash. Throughout the rest of her life, Grace was pivotal in helping her husband fund-raise for the school, and by teaching courses in domestic science.
In his popular book How to Stop Worrying and Start Living
How to Stop Worrying and Start Living
How to stop Worrying and Start Living is a self-help book by Dale Carnegie. It was first printed in Great Britain in 1948 by Richard Clay , Ltd., Bungay Suffolk...
, author and motivator Dale Carnegie
Dale Carnegie
Dale Breckenridge Carnegie was an American writer, lecturer, and the developer of famous courses in self-improvement, salesmanship, corporate training, public speaking, and interpersonal skills...
told a story of how Jones had survived a near-lynching
Lynching
Lynching is an extrajudicial execution carried out by a mob, often by hanging, but also by burning at the stake or shooting, in order to punish an alleged transgressor, or to intimidate, control, or otherwise manipulate a population of people. It is related to other means of social control that...
in 1918 by demonstrating to the white mob how passionate he was about his efforts to educate African American children. Several accounts support Carnegie's account that after being persuaded not to lynch him, the crowd actually ended up collecting money to give to Jones to support his school.
Methodology
Jones is attributed with utilizing the "Booker T. WashingtonBooker T. Washington
Booker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, author, orator, and political leader. He was the dominant figure in the African-American community in the United States from 1890 to 1915...
model" of training African Americans to be good workers. He followed the Jim Crow social codes of the South, and consequently his school thrived without controversy and with encouragement from white people
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
throughout Mississippi. Jones taught students about agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
, carpentry
Carpentry
A carpenter is a skilled craftsperson who works with timber to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects. The work, known as carpentry, may involve manual labor and work outdoors....
, dairy
Dairy
A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting of animal milk—mostly from cows or goats, but also from buffalo, sheep, horses or camels —for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on a dedicated dairy farm or section of a multi-purpose farm that is concerned...
farming and construction
Construction
In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...
, and under his guidance students were responsible for building many of the facilities on the campus, starting with a boys' dorm in 1922.
In 1929, with the arrival of Martha Louise Morrow Foxx
Martha Louise Morrow Foxx
Martha Louise Morrow Foxx was a pioneering educator of the blind in Mississippi. Her techniques and leadership are credited with guiding the Mississippi Blind School for Negroes towards integration, embodied by the creation of the Mississippi School for the Blind for both African American and...
to serve as principal, the Mississippi Blind School for Negroes was founded on the campus; it eventually moved to Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson is the capital and the most populous city of the US state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County ,. The population of the city declined from 184,256 at the 2000 census to 173,514 at the 2010 census...
.
With assistance from his wife Jones led several singing groups across the South, the Midwest
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
and the East
Eastern United States
The Eastern United States, the American East, or simply the East is traditionally defined as the states east of the Mississippi River. The first two tiers of states west of the Mississippi have traditionally been considered part of the West, but can be included in the East today; usually in...
on fundraising tours. The schools' Five Blind Boys of Mississippi
Five Blind Boys of Mississippi
The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi was a post-war gospel quartet. Powered by lead singer Archie Brownlee, their single "Our Father" reached the Billboard R&B charts in the early 1950s, one of the first gospel records to do so.-History:...
, the Cotton Blossom Singers and the International Sweethearts of Rhythm
International Sweethearts of Rhythm
The International Sweethearts of Rhythm was the first integrated all women's band in the United States. During the 1940s the band featured some of the best female musicians of the day...
were three of several acts. Beginning in the 1930s, the school also sponsored baseball teams as part of the fund-raising efforts. Jones appeared on the This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life is an American television documentary series broadcast on NBC, originally hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards from 1952 to 1961. In the show, the host surprises a guest, and proceeds to take them through their life in front of an audience including friends and family.Edwards...
television show in the 1950s, and after telling his story asked viewers to each send in $1 to support the school. This bid eventually raised $700,000, with which Jones began the schools' endowment fund, which was reported to be at $7,000,000 when Jones died in 1975.
Recognition
Jones received honorary doctorates from Clarke CollegeClarke College
Clarke University is a four-year Catholic college located in Dubuque, Iowa, United States, with a general attendance of approximately 1,200 students. The school offers both undergraduate and graduate degree programs...
, Cornell College
Cornell College
Cornell College is a private liberal arts college in Mount Vernon, Iowa. Originally called the Iowa Conference Seminary, the school was founded in 1853 by Reverend Samuel M. Fellows...
, University of Dubuque
University of Dubuque
The University of Dubuque is a Presbyterian university located in Dubuque, Iowa, with a general attendance of approximately 1,600 students. The school offers both undergraduate and graduate degree programs. It is one of three four-year post-secondary institutions in the City of Dubuque, and is...
, and Otterbein College. He also earned an honorary Masters in Arts from the Tuskegee Institute.
He was recognized for his contributions to the education of African American children by the University of Iowa when college president Virgil Hancher named him one of the University's most outstanding alumni in 1954. Jones also sat on boards for the Mississippi Federation of Colored Women's Clubs and the state executive committee for the Y.M.C.A.. He was also the author of several books, including Up Through Difficulties, published in 1910, Piney Woods and Its Story, published in 1923, and The Bottom Rail, published in 1933.
Jones received the Silver Buffalo Award
Silver Buffalo Award
The Silver Buffalo Award is the national-level distinguished service award of the Boy Scouts of America. It is presented for noteworthy and extraordinary service to youth on a national basis, either as part of, or independent of the Scouting program...
, the highest commendation of the Boy Scouts of America
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
, in 1970.
Legacy
Laurence C. Jones died in 1975. His daughter, HelenHelen Jones Woods
Helen Jones Woods is a jazz and swing trombone player most renowned for her performances with the International Sweethearts of Rhythm. She was inducted into the Omaha Black Music Hall of Fame in 2007.-About:...
, was part of the influential World War II-era and she was a swing band called the International Sweethearts of Rhythm
International Sweethearts of Rhythm
The International Sweethearts of Rhythm was the first integrated all women's band in the United States. During the 1940s the band featured some of the best female musicians of the day...
, which was originally formed at the school. His granddaughter, Cathy Hughes
Cathy Hughes
Cathy Hughes, born Catherine Elizabeth Woods in Omaha, Nebraska on April 22, 1947, is an African-American entrepreneur, radio and television personality and business executive. Hughes founded the media company Radio One and later expanded into TV One, the company went public in 1998, making...
, still sits on the board of Piney Woods, and in the 1990s his great-grandson Sidney Jones attended the school.
In 2007 the U.S. Congress dedicated the Laurence C. and Grace M. Jones Post Office Building in Piney Woods, Mississippi
Piney Woods, Mississippi
Piney Woods is an unincorporated community in Rankin County, Mississippi . It is the site of the Piney Woods Country Life School, a historically African-American boarding school established in 1909....
in honor of the couples' legacy in the community.