Editor’s note: This is part one of a 4-part article.
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, AR — Scipio, a child of a fifteen-year old slave girl and her slave owner and master, was born before the abolishment of slavery in late 1863. While pursuing his education, according to some sources, Jones attended Walden Seminary in Little Rock, which is now Philander Smith College. He also attended Bethel Institute in North Little Rock, which later became Shorter College.
After many hardships, he became an educator, businessman and attorney. Although his accomplishments were many, none exceeded the role he played in the notorious Elaine, Arkansas race riot of 1919. This was a time in American history known as the “Red Summer.” This uproar started when a group of White men descended upon a Black church where a group of Blacks were gathered. The Blacks, who were mostly sharecroppers, were meeting to form a union to protest unfair wages. A massive fight resulted and many, mostly Black men, women and children, were killed. A White posse man was also killed. Hundreds of Blacks were arrested, including twelve Black men who were tried and sentenced to death within hours. During this history-changing case, Jones interacted with founders and other high-ranking officials of the NAACP, which intervened in this extremely unjust case.
At the beginning of this working relationship between Jones and the NAACP, a degree of friction existed. All of this worked out as each side realized the importance of the other. It was said that Mary White Ovington, one of the founders of the NAACP stated that while Jones worked on the case in Elaine, he had to spend each night in a different location because of the dangerous and threatening racial climate in the angry and hostile town.
This was a different era and America was a racially divided country. Lynchings and other mob violence were not uncommon. Although Jones was the mastermind in this case and the attorney from whom most of the legal strategies derived, he endured denial and humiliation. Arkansas law at the time prevented African American attorneys from appearing before the Court unless a Caucasian attorney was listed as lead counsel. A White man named George W. Murphy was hired by the NAACP. Murphy had significant political connections throughout the State. Ovington later wrote that Jones’ legal procedures and techniques demonstrated in the case had been “masterly.” Jones is credited with preparing the legal brief in this landmark case (Moore et al. V. Dempsey) which ended up in the U. S. Supreme Court.
Another founder of the NAACP, Dr. W. E. B. Dubois, wrote in the “Crisis” magazine flattering statements about Jones’ legal performance. DuBois also urged citizens to donate to a legal defense fund set up for the men in this case.
Another representative of the NAACP, noted human rights activist and journalist, Ida B. Wells Barnett, also ventured to Arkansas to investigate this tumultuous event. In her report, Barnett was complimentary about Jones. In the end, this nightmarish ordeal concluded with the men saved from the death penalty. It was an early and very significant victory for Civil Rights.
From the darkness of Night, the light of a new day: Scipio Africanus Jones
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