Scipio A. Jones

Scipio Africanus Jones (August 3, 1863 – March 2, 1943) was an African-American educator, attorney, judge, philanthropist, and Republican politician from the state of Arkansas. He was most famous for successfully guiding the appeals of the twelve African-American men condemned to death after the Elaine Race Riot of October 1919. More than 100 African Americans were indicted in the aftermath of the riot, although an estimated 100 to 200 blacks were killed in the county, and five whites. No whites were prosecuted by the state. The case was appealed to the United States Supreme Court which in Moore v. Dempsey (1923) set an important precedent of reviewing the conduct of state criminal trials against the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Scipio Africanus Jones was born into slavery in Smith Township, near Tulip in Dallas County, Arkansas.

Jones' mother, Jemmina Jones, was a 15-year-old slave when her mixed-race son Scipio was born. She had been held by Dr. Adolphus and Carolyn Jones, who assigned her as the companion of their daughter Thresa when the girls were young. Thresa, a year younger, became Jemmina's best friend. Thresa's parents died when she was 9 years old, and she and her slave were moved to the house of her uncle, Dr. Sanford Reamey. He took advantage of Jemmina and was Scipio's father.

Jones attended black schools near his hometown. In 1883 he moved to Little Rock at the age of 20 and took preparatory courses at Philander Smith College. In 1885 Jones earned a bachelor's degree from North Little Rock's Shorter College, a historically black college.

Jones worked as a school teacher in Big Rock District Two from 1885 until 1887. He was a tenant of James Lawson, a white man, who was a prominent member of a pioneer family of Little Rock. At this time Jones also befriended three prominent Black business owners: Ed Wood Sr., owner of the largest Black-owned plantation in the state and only African American on the local commodities trading floor; John Bush, a powerful Black merchant and lumber yard owner; and Chester Keatts. These three initiated Jones into the Prince Hall Freemasonry, a secret fraternal society of prominent African Americans who pooled resources for the ideals of liberty, equality and peace.

...
Wikipedia