Robert Elijah Jones

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Robert Elijah Jones (1871—1960) was an American Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church and The Methodist Church in the U.S., elected in 1920. Along with Matthew Wesley Clair, Jones became one of the first African-American Bishops of the M.E. Church.

[edit] Biography

Robert E. Jones was born on February 19, 1872 in Greensboro, North Carolina. He was a son of Sidney Dallas and Jane (Holley) Jones.

Jones and Matthew W. Clair were appointed bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1920, becoming the first black people to receive that title.

In the late 1930s, Bishop Jones participated in a unification movement that attempted to integrate the black and white members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Unfortunately, because of strong opposition in the South, the Church decided instead to create a separate jurisdiction for blacks, called the Central Jurisdiction. The Methodists would not formally integrate the black and white churches until the 1960s.

He helped found a Methodist retreat, Gulfside Assembly, in Waveland, Mississippi for African-Americans. Gulfside Assembly was the only place in the United States where an African-American had access to the Gulf of Mexico for vacationing and recreational purposes.

[edit] References

Yenser, Thomas (editor), Who's Who in Colored America: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Persons of African Descent in America, Who's Who in Colored America, Brooklyn, New York, 1930-1931-1932 (Third Edition)

Additional information added by Jacquelyn L. Jackson-Quinn jljquinn50@hotmail.com