2 Timothy 2:15
Historical Moments
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#18
Vol. 1. No. 18 -
Monday, May 10, 1999
"Finding The Good and Praising It
JEWEL EUGENE KINCKLE JONES:
TRULY A SERVANT OF ALL
By Skip Mason
"In the final accounting in the life of Eugene
Kinckle Jones-his astonishing success has been the triumph of one performing human
kindness for others-rather than having others serve him. In a word, he
created happiness for thousands of others-and through his associates over
the years, created
happiness and freedom for hundreds of thousands of his
fellow men.
Raymond Pace Alexander, June 14, 1953
(at a testimonial
dinner for Jones)
He was tall, dashing, debonair, suave, worldly, handsome,
sophisticated and articulate. Had he gone to Hollywood, he would been
characterized as the "swash buckling' type." But he did not go to
Hollywood, instead he went to Harlem in 1911. With a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology
from Virginia Union
University in Richmond and a Master's Degree in Social
Work from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, Eugene Kinckle Jones was
the son of two prominent educators. Though born literally with a silver
spoon in his mouth of culture, wealth and refinement, Jones gave his life to
the uplifting of the "least of these" and the
"downtrodden" as the Executive Secretary of the
National Urban League. He was more than just the
Executive Secretary, Eugene Kinckle Jones was a "Servant of All."
In the "House of Alpha," Jones will forever be
known as the last person designated as founder. He will also be known for
establishing Beta, Gamma and Alpha Lambda Chapters. However, if that is the limit of
your knowledge of "Gene" Jones to some and "Kinckle" as
he was called by others, then this
historical moment is for you.
There is perhaps no other founder who was as nationally
and internationally known and respected as Eugene Kinckle Jones. Of course
all of Jewel did phenomenal work in their respective careers, but Jones's
work redefined Alpha's motto "Servants of All."
With his position with the National Urban League, Jones
traveled in circles that others wished and dreamed about. His personal
friends and associates reads like a Who's Who in Black America (Countee Cullen
and Langston Hughes)
were two of his closets friends. It was in the magazine
that he helped to create "Opportunity" that the literary and
poetic works of the Black Literati of the Harlem Renaissance came to life. The magazine
began publication in 1923 and was edited by his highschool classmate Charles
Spurgeon Johnson, who
would later become the first African-American president
of Fisk University. As a member of President Franklin Delanor Roosevelt's
"Black Cabinet, " Jones, along with Mary McLeod Bethune and others met and
dined with dignitaries from near and far. Yet he was able to
"walk with kings and not
lose the common touch" Jones traveled to Paris and England, several times.
Spanned the United States from the Pacific Coast to Florida where he surveyed and
observed conditions
of African-Americans. He was an activist, who literally
single handily integrated the Tuskegee Veterans Hospital by protesting
directly to then President Warring Harding and alerting other groups such
as DuBois and the
NAACP and the National Council of Negro Women of the
Government desire to completely staff the hospital with all white nurses and
physicians. As a result of his action, Henry Arthur Callis was able to
join the staff at Tuskegee.
Jewel Jones recognized the value of culture and
literature. He was an avid reader and bibliophile, wrote book reviews along with his
wife Blanche. It was Jones' leadership that enabled the New York Public
Library to acquire the extensive collection from Arthur Schomburg for $10,000 to
establish this
Negro collection in 1925. Today, the Schomburg Research
Library on 135th Street has the distinction of being one of the finest
repositories in the countries for the study of African-American Life and
History.
Yet, Jones found time for relaxation. He was an avid
Tennis player and served as Treasurer for the National American Tennis
Association, one of the first groups to sponsor a National championship match for
African-American. The social columns of the Baltimore Afro-American, the
New York Amsterdam's
featured often the names of the Eugene and Blanche Jones.
Through the columns one was able to "keep up with the Jones." He
was active in his church in Flushing (Long Island) New York and numerous civic
affairs and when possible
attended the Alpha Gamma Lambda chapter meetings which he
affiliated.
Eugene Kinckle Jones and his brother Joseph, inherited a
rich legacy from his father Dr. Joseph E. Jones, a professor of homiletics and
Greek at Virginia University. Uniquely too was the fact that Dr. Jones was
made an honorary member of Gamma Chapter at Virginia Union University,
making Eugene Kinckle Jones, the only Jewel whose father was an Alpha. When
Eugene Kinckle Jones, Jr attended Virginia Union, he too was initiated into
Gamma sometimes around
1931 or 1932 and graduated in 1933. The younger Jones
went to the New York School of Law, graduated and was admitted to the bar in
1938. He practiced law in New York until his death in 1964, ten years
following the death of his father, our beloved founder. Jewel Jones grandson, Van
Kinckle Jones, a
renowned doctor attended Cornell University in the early
sixties. According to a very reliable oral source had difficulty becoming a
member of Alpha due to chapter pettiness and today has some bitter feelings
regarding the Fraternity.
It is ironic that Eugene Kinckle Jones life as a Jewel
lasted only for two years. Following the 1952 Convention in Cleveland, the
decision was made to remove James Morton, who had long since been dead and
replace him with Eugene Kinckle Jones. Jones humbly accepted it and referred to
it in a letter with
Jewel Callis as a "righted wrong" From December
of 1952 to January of 1954 at the time of his death, Jewel Jones personified the
dignity and stature of statesman.
This is just a brief synopsis of a phenomenal man. Of
course there is much more to share. All of the details of the events of Jones
life, his work with the National Urban League, some of his speeches are
included in my book the Talented Tenth. In addition, Brother Felix Armfield
completed his doctoral
dissertation on Jewel's Jones work as a social worker and
is in the process of completing his book on the life of Jewel Jones (see
article in most recent edition of The Sphinx). During my research, as I have
read and digested the speeches of Jewel Jones, I am simply inspired at his
intellect and wisdom.
Permit me to share with you some pearls of wisdom from
the lips of Jewel Jones. Note that the word he used is Negro, which of
course references the time period he lived in. Yet, his thoughts are still
applicable in today's society:
ON THE NEGRO:
"The Negro has been considered the most easily
understood of racial groups because of his frank, open face, his jovial nature and
his extraordinary ability to pantomime to give expressions to his
thoughts"
ON THE POTENTIAL OF "NEGROES"
" Even in American, the Negro brought in as a slave
was not introduced into the economic life of the country as a competitor to the
white man, but as an aid. I doubt whether any statesman of the periods in
which Negroes were brought to America as slaves would have continued the
experiment if they had known that 1865 would have recorded on American soil
Negroes to the number of four million, eventually to become industrial competitors
of white men."
ON EGYPT:
"In Egyptian life there is evidence of Negro
influence, as well as in the life of the mixed races of the northern African
coast."
ON JEWS:
"It is fairly certain that seven-eighths of the Jews
in the world come from stock which had contact some time in their past history
with Negro life. Undoubtedly, the Negro in antiquity played an interesting
and important role in the affairs of men"
ON BLACK AND WHITE RELATIONS:
"The white race and the Negro race in America are
each possessed of heritages and have had racial experience so vastly different. They
are given an unusual opportunity to prove the possibilities of a true
democracy where different
races of mankind may live in peace and harmony, each one
giving of his best to the welfare of all and to the glory of God and
man."
ON BLACK OWNED BUSINESSES:
"It requires more than just the ability to sell to
conduct a successful business. One must be able to buy well, which means
having many contacts and the development of credit. One must be satisfied with
large numbers of small
profits in lieu of a small number of large profits. One
must appreciate the value of advertising and be possessed of the necessary
capital to see it through.
ON W. E. B. DUBOIS:
"In letters, the race has developed W. E. B. DuBois,
whose English has been declared the purest of any Harvard graduate."
ON HIS "BUDDIES" Countee Cullen and Langston
Hughes:
"In poetry, Countee Cullen and Langston Hughes have
mastered the art of singing without music and have published two books rated
as "best sellers" in the world of poetry.
ON SUCCESS:
"Success in life calls for thorough preparation.
Success in America life today is fraught with keep competition. The Negro must
compete not only with members of other races, but with those within his own
race who have caught the vision of the new age and who are lured along by the
attraction of success. The rank and file are dependent upon trained men
and women for guidance and extraordinary service. "
ON ACHIEVING YOUR GOALS:
"It is more important that one develop his mind
along his natural bent and talent than to seek some form of popular education which
leaves the student ill equipped and proceeding along blind occupational
alleys."
Pearls of Wisdom from Eugene Kinckle Jones
********************
"In the midst of your success remember that Alpha
Phi Alpha must succeed also"
Howard Hale Long, Seventh General President, 1915
A FEW LETTERS FROM THE BROTHERS
(This brother is responding to the brother who described
the decision to make Frederick Douglass an Alpha in Omega Chapter as a
"Dark day in Alpha."
Before I became a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity,
Inc. I was captivated by the collection of intellectuals. If one
were to place a hierarchy on the Black Fraternal System, I placed Alpha
in the premiere position because her membership dictated such. After
initiation, I was exposed to even greater knowledge of this thing we call
Alpha. Not only were our Founders distinct and noble men, but they came from a
lineage of distinct and noble families. One would assume that these
courageous men were the first to attend college in their families or graduate
from an Ivory League University. I learned later that these men in some cases
had Mothers and Fathers who graduated from the likes of Harvard, Hampton,
and Cornell, not withstanding the Honorary Degrees bestowed upon them from
the likes of Livingston and Morris Brown.
To Brother Douglass: perhaps the lineage to Brother Jewel
Henry Arthur Callis should have been mentioned. Brother Douglass was the
second cousin of Ms. Helen Josephine Sprague. Ms. Sprague later married Rev.
Henry Jesse Callis.
The couple produced five offspring: Brother Jewel Henry
Author Callis being among the children. It is inevitable that the great minds
of African Americans living in the late 1890s would have forsaken a
relationship with such a talented and respected man as Brother Douglass.
With Brother Callis'
father being of exceptional intellect and his mother
being of direct blood lineage to Brother Douglass, one can ascertain that the
relationship between Brother Douglass and the Callis family wasn't by name
alone.
To assert that making Brother Douglass posthumously was a
dark day on the Fraternity is to apply ignorance to the history that
necessitated such a motion to be made. In all things I see our more notable
Brethren with some qualities that Brother Douglass personified. His
intellect, courage, political savvy, oratorical abilities, mastery of the
written language, and
his meteoric rise in spite of the conditions Blacks were
living in during his life time encompasses everything that is Alpha.
This goes to the old premise that Alphas are not made
they are Born. There will be elite amongst us and some will find their way to
the light. Some will be identified by the Brotherhood, some will never
enter the fold but will be Alphas just the same.
Any Brother recognized is a good Brother and should never
be viewed as a bad day when he was made. To say such would be contradictory
to being in the Brotherhood. Perhaps its time for that person to renew
their vow.
Reginald Hicks
Alpha Phi Alpha
Mu Chi Spring 89
Kappa Gamma Lambda