Elaine Jones - Early Life and Education

Early Life and Education

African American topics
History Atlantic slave trade Maafa Slavery in the United States African-American military history Jim Crow laws Great Migration Redlining Civil Rights Movement 1896–1954 / 1955–1968 Second Great Migration Afrocentrism Post–Civil Rights era
Culture African American studies Art Black mecca Black schools Black colleges and universities Juneteenth Kwanzaa Literature Museums Music Neighborhoods
Religion Black church Black liberation theology Black theology Doctrine of Father Divine American Society of Muslims Nation of Islam Black Hebrew Israelites The Nation of Gods and Earths
Political movements Pan-Africanism Black Power Capitalism Conservatism Leftism Nationalism Populism Black Panther Party Garveyism
Civic & economic groups Rights organizations National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) National Urban League (NUL) Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) United Negro College Fund (UNCF) Thurgood Marshall College Fund National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) The Links National Council of Negro Women (NCNW)
Sports Negro league baseball ‹ The template below (Sidebar subsection) is being considered for possible deletion. See templates for discussion to help reach a consensus.› Athletic Associations / Conferences Central (CIAA) Southern (SIAC) Mid-Eastern (MEAC) Southwestern (SWAC)
Ethnic subdivisions Black Indians Gullah Igbo
Languages English American English African American Vernacular English Gullah Louisiana Creole French
Diaspora Nova Scotia Liberia Sierra Leone France
Lists African Americans African-American firsts (First mayors • US state firsts) Landmark African-American legislation African American-related topics Topics related to Black and African people
Category: African American African American portal

Born in Norfolk, Virginia, Ms. Jones came of age in the Jim Crow South and learned its painful lessons early on. Her mother was a college-educated schoolteacher and her father was a Pullman porter and a member of the nation's first black trade union. Her parents taught her about the realities of racism, but also about the importance of idealism.

After graduating with honors in political science from Howard University, Ms. Jones joined the Peace Corps and became one of the first African Americans to serve in Turkey. Following her two-year Peace Corps stint, she became the first African-American woman to enroll in the University of Virginia School of Law and, subsequently, the first to graduate.

Read more about this topic: Elaine Jones

Famous quotes containing the words early, life and/or education:

“Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and organize.”
—Albert Gore, Jr. (b. 1948)

“If you were to destroy the belief in immortality in mankind, not only love but every living force on which the continuation of all life in the world depended, would dry up at once.”
—Feodor Dostoyevsky (1821–1881)

“The Supreme Court would have pleased me more if they had concerned themselves about enforcing the compulsory education provisions for Negroes in the South as is done for white children. The next ten years would be better spent in appointing truant officers and looking after conditions in the homes from which the children come. Use to the limit what we already have.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)