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JACKSON, MAE HOWARD

(May 12, 1877–July 12, 1931) Sculptor

The art of Mae Howard Jackson helped dissipate recurring stereotypes of African Americans so prevalent during the Harlem Renaissance, a goal that those who brought forth the cultural revolution sought to achieve. Her depictions of the “New Negro” were positive self-images of what she saw in society.

In 1877, Jackson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Floarada Howard and Sallie Dunham. She first graduated from Professor J. Liberty-Tadd’s Art School in Philadelphia and, in 1899, from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. After marrying William T. S. Jackson, a teacher and high school principal in Washington, D.C., she moved to that city, maintained a studio, and pursued her career as an artist between 1899 and 1931. Jackson taught and also captured the images of a number of African Americans who were, or would later become, legendary. She taught art to students in the District of Columbia. She also lectured to students at Howard University, where one of her students was Sargent Johnson, the orphaned nephew of her husband, who had lived with the Jacksons at one time. Among her sitters were such notable black leaders and educators as W. E. B. Du Bois, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Francis J. Grimké, Jean Toomer, and Kelly Miller. In 1928, Jackson received the bronze medal from the Harmon Foundation for her bust of Miller.

In 1913, Jackson participated in the Emancipation Exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C. She was active at a time when race relations in the United States were tenuous, and her natural tendency to be withdrawn was intensified by the racial prejudices that she both saw and encountered. She was denied membership in the Washington Society of Fine Arts, and although some of her work had been showcased there in 1916 and 1928, she was denied other opportunities to exhibit at the National Academy of Design. Jackson died in Long Beach, New York.—Jessie Carney Smith

JARBORO, CATERINA

(July 21, 1898–August 13, 1986) Opera singer

Caterina Jarboro

Few opportunities were available to African American concert singers during the Harlem Renaissance; nevertheless, Caterina Jarboro enjoyed some success in the United States and Europe during that time. She became known on Broadway during the early 1920s, when she appeared in two popular Broadway shows.

The facts of Jarboro’s early life are confusing due to accounts that she gave in an interview in 1972, and to various published sources. She is said to have been born Katherine Yarboro, in Wilmington, North Carolina, on July 21, 1898, but she changed her name when she became a singer later on. In addition to changes in her surname, her given name may have been changed to Caterina or Catarina. Her parents were John Wesley Yarborough, a barber, and (Ann?) Elizabeth Harris Yarborough. Caterina was orphaned at an early age and raised in Catholic convents and orphanages. While in a convent, her talent was recognized, and at the age of thirteen, she began to receive serious training in voice.

In 1921, Jarboro appeared in the Broadway musical Shuffle Along, as well as in Running Wild of 1923. She continued her education in Paris in 1926, and in 1928, she became the pupil of Nino Campinno in Italy. Jarboro made her debut at the Puccini Opera House in Milan on May 21, 1930, where she sang Aida, and she had moderate success in the opera houses of Europe. She returned to the United States and enjoyed more success in a series of concerts. Jarboro performed with the Chicago Opera Company, and in 1933, she sang Aida at the Hippodrome Theater in New York. With the latter performance, she was the first African American to sing a principal role with an all-white opera company. After two more performances of Aida at other New York sites, she returned to Europe to continue her career. The outbreak of World War II forced her to return home. Jarboro then became an interpreter for the U.S. Army. Little is known about her activities from then onward, although she appears to have settled in New York. She gave two town hall concerts in her hometown of Wilmington in 1943 and 1944. She was honored with a plaque that, in 1982, was placed on her childhood home. Jarboro died in Manhattan.—Jessie Carney Smith

JEFFREY, MAURINE LAWRENCE

(1900–unknown) Poet, educator

Maurine Lawrence Jeffrey was a poet and teacher from Texas whose work emerged during the Harlem Renaissance era. Born in 1900, in Longview, Texas, her family moved to Dallas when she was three years old. She attended Dallas grammar schools, including J. P. Stacks Elementary School. Jeffrey lost her father just after graduation but, upon her mother’s insistence, still attended four years at Prairie View State College (now Prairie View A&M University), where she enjoyed her music, history, and English classes. After graduating with high marks, she taught in Dallas public schools for nearly three years. She resigned from teaching when she married Jessie W. Jeffrey, the son of a professor.

Jeffrey began writing poetry when she was twelve years old and had her first poem published in 1924. She then worked on the staff of such local newspapers as the Dallas Express. Many of her poems were published in Texas newspapers, but two that were published in the Dallas Express newspaper, “My Rainy Day” and “Pappy’s Last Song,” were later published in J. Mason Brewer’s Heralding Dawn: An Anthology of Verse (1936). Jeffrey’s poetry focuses on family and religion using standard prose, as well as dialect.—Amanda J. Carter

JESSYE, EVA ALBERTA

(January 20, 1895–February 21, 1992) Choral director, composer

Eva Alberta Jessye’s contribution to the music world for more than three-quarters of a century left an indelible mark of perfection on the sounds and tradition that black culture offers to the world. She was born on January 20, 1895, in Coffeyville, Kansas. Jessye was already aware of where life would take her, as she began to play the piano at five years of age and direct singing groups before she was thirteen. She studied music, both choral and theory, at Western University in Quindaro, Kansas, and completed her studies in 1914. She received her lifetime teaching certificate from Langston University in Oklahoma and spent several years teaching in segregated black schools.

In 1926, Jessye moved to New York and joined the Dixie Jubilee Singers, which later became the Eva Jessye Singers. She also became a protégé of Will Marion Cook, an early black classical jazz composer. His guidance supported and enhanced her skills in writing and composing work for her group and other projects. Jessye’s group performed extensively, singing a variety of black musical forms, including spirituals, blues, jazz, work-songs, and opera, and they made both stage and radio appearances. In 1936, the Dixie Jubilee Singers were featured in the first all-black musical motion picture, Hallelujah, by King Vidor. Jessye’s group continued to gain acclaim, and she was selected as choral director for Virgil Thomson and Gertrude Stein’s Four Saints in Three Acts (1934), as well as George Gershwin and DuBose Heyward’s all-black folk opera Porgy and Bess, which premiered in New York City at the Alvin Theatre. No major production of Porgy and Bess was performed from 1938 to 1958 without the choral direction of Eva Jessye. Under Jessye’s direction, the group maintained its prominence well into the period of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.

Jessye’s published compositions consist of My Spirituals (1927), The Life of Christ in Negro Spirituals (1931), and Paradise Lost and Regained (1934). Her most notable work, Paradise Lost and Regained, uses spirituals to create the sounds of the production in a way that Jessye called “folk oratorio.” Her compositions engage every aspect of black music, and with her expert abilities in harmonics, she added richness and authenticity to any production that sought to express black life.

In Jessye’s later years, she became an artist-in-residence at Pittsburg State University in Kansas and contributed a large portion of her memorabilia to the university. She was awarded an honorary degree from Eastern Michigan University, among many other awards, for her contributions to the arts. Jessye died in Ann Arbor, Michigan.—Lean’tin L. Bracks

JOHNSON, DOROTHY VENA

(May 7, 1898–c. 1970) Poet, educator, activist

Dorothy Vena Johnson was born on May 7, 1898, to James M. Vena and Namie Plumb Vena, and she lived in California. Her education began in a convent; she later attended the University of Southern California, where she received her A.B. degree, and the Teachers College at the University of California, Los Angeles. Johnson married a lawyer who eventually became a U.S. attorney. She taught junior high school journalism and creative writing for forty years and encouraged her students to both write and publish. Thus, the poetry of Johnson’s students frequently appeared in Nuggets, a bimonthly children’s magazine of poetry by and about children. In both her teaching and her writing, she sought to influence students’ attitudes about race.

Johnson’s writing was candid, somber, rhythmic, straightforward, and lacked embellishments. This simple style often masked her poetry’s depth of meaning, social consciousness, and complexity. In spite of the fact that she began writing and publishing at the end of the Harlem Renaissance, she maintained contact with Langston Hughes and Arna Bontemps. In addition, both her writing and life demonstrate signature themes of that period. She brought attention to history, ancestry, lynching, and the disenfranchised segment of the population. Harlem Renaissance themes are evident in “Epitaph for a Bigot” and “Post War Ballad,” in which a statue of American Revolutionary soldier Crispus Attucks laments the dearth of change in the racial climate. These works are printed in Ebony Rhythm. Johnson’s poetry also appears in such magazines and anthologies as Golden Slippers, edited by Arna Bontemps; Poems for Radio, Negro Voices, edited by Beatrice M. Murphy; and the National Poetry Association’s National Anthology of Verse (1949). The latter contains poetry by both high school and college teachers. Johnson was both a member and former treasurer of the Los Angeles Creative Writing Teachers’ Association.

In 1939, Johnson’s social consciousness and activist nature became apparent with the cofounding of the League of Allied Arts, the oldest existing black women’s nonprofit arts organization in Los Angeles. The necessity for such a group in Los Angeles became apparent when Langston Hughes visited friends Juanita and Loren Miller. He wished to stage a play, but there was no venue for an African American to present a play. Juanita Miller and Johnson pooled their resources to make it possible for Hughes to stage Don’t I Wanna Be Free? Loren Miller, an attorney, became Hughes’s first literary agent. Dorothy and Juanita cofounded the League of Allied Arts to promote, support, and advocate for artists and the arts, and present cultural enrichment programs in the community that honor the accomplishments of black artists. The league raises funds and awards scholarships to high school and first-year college students in Los Angeles who are pursuing the arts.

As a result of Johnson’s work in education as both a teacher and pioneering administrator, and her concern for community uplift, a school for at-risk students, Johnson Community Day School, was named in her honor. The school is similar to typical public schools in operation with grades seven through twelve, but its class sizes range from three to seventeen students. The facility accepts disabled students and students with minimal academic skills, and it provides a variety of counseling options. Johnson died as the result of a cerebral hemorrhage.—Helen R. Houston

JOHNSON, GEORGIA DOUGLAS [PAUL TREMAINE]

(September 10, 1877–May 14, 1966) Poet, playwright, short story writer, musician

Georgia Douglas Johnson

Georgia Douglas Johnson was the most famous female poet of the Harlem Renaissance, publishing three volumes of poetry during that period; the addition of twenty-eight plays and her role of literary salon host sets her apart as an important figure.

Johnson was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 10, 1877, to Laura Douglas and George Camp. She attended Atlanta University’s Normal School and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where she studied violin, piano, and composition. She returned to Atlanta and married Henry Lincoln Johnson, a prominent attorney, with whom she had two sons.

In 1910, the Johnsons moved to Washington, D.C., and Georgia became intensely involved in literary life. Although New York was the center for the Harlem Renaissance, the District of Columbia played an important role, partly due to Johnson’s “Saturday Nighters’ Club” at her home—1461 S Street NW—where she hosted various writers and artists, both established and budding. Her first poetry volume (1918) examines gender issues, but not specific racial themes; her subsequent work explores racial violence, miscegenation, and black motherhood.

After the death of her husband in 1925, Johnson continued to write and publish while working full time, winning first prize in Opportunity magazine for the play Plumes (1927). From 1926 to 1932, she wrote a column called “Homely Philosophy,” syndicated in twenty newspapers. Under the pseudonym Paul Tremaine, Johnson published short stories during the 1940s. Unpublished works include a novel and the biography of her husband. Johnson died of a stroke in 1966. Although much of her papers have been lost, she is recognized as a significant writer of the time.—Adenike Marie Davidson

JOHNSON, HELENE

(July 7, 1906–July 6, 1995) Poet

Helene Johnson is a lesser-known but no less highly esteemed poet of the Harlem Renaissance. She published thirty-four poems, covering love, race, nature, the life and people of Harlem, and other thoughtful musings exquisitely worded and often in free verse.

Johnson was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 7, 1906, to George William Johnson and Ella Benson Johnson. Both parents hailed from the South. Her parents’ marriage dissolved not long after her birth. Childhood, nonetheless, was a productive and delightful period in Johnson’s life. Although an only child, her home was filled with extended family. She was the oldest of several cousins who were also her playmates. She formed a special and long-lasting bond with her cousin, Dorothy West. West would become a seminal figure of the Harlem Renaissance.

Learning, as well as family, played an important part in Johnson’s young life. Reading and learning were stressed at home, and she had a strong academic background. Johnson and West attended Boston’s Lafayette School, the Martin School, and the Boston Girls’ Latin School. At Boston University, they studied writing. In 1925, the two women joined the Saturday Evening Quill Club, an organization that fostered the literary pursuits of African American Bostonians. That same year, Johnson made headway in her writing. Her short story “Respectability” won first prize in a literary contest and was published by the Boston Chronicle, an African American newspaper. Her poem “Trees at Night” was published in Opportunity, a journal founded by the National Urban League.

If Boston set the foundation for Johnson’s zeal for writing, New York City opened the door to opportunities for her to write and publish alongside some of the greatest talents of the time. Johnson had a strong debut in the literary world of the Harlem Renaissance. Both Johnson and West received invitations to the Urban League’s prestigious Opportunity awards dinner in 1926. Johnson won first honorable mention for her poem “Fulfillment.” For two other poems, “Magula,” and “The Road,” she won fourth and seventh honorable mentions. West tied with Zora Neale Hurston for the second-place prize for fiction. Both young ladies, Johnson and West, were under twenty years of age. Johnson was nineteen; West was eighteen. The following year, the cousins returned to New York City to pursue their literary ambitions in the Extension Division at Columbia University.

At the time of the cousins’ arrival in New York City, Harlem was ripe with energy and talent. The neighborhood was home to a large African American community. Many black Harlemites had migrated from the South in search of better opportunities; many were motivated by dreams of performing in the sundry hotspots available for black artists and performers. Art and literature also played an enormous role during the Harlem Renaissance. Blacks published and were published in newspapers, magazines, and literary journals. The Harlem literati comprised men and women who brought to the world a new wave of African American literature. Zora Neale Hurston, a writer, anthropologist, and folklorist, was a major part of this wave. Hurston, who had met Johnson and West at the Opportunity dinner in 1926, was a friend and mentor to the young women. She introduced Johnson and West to other influential writers in the community. The young women immersed themselves in writing, Harlem, and their network of friends and connections.

While West’s career flourished, Johnson’s career was less spectacular. Lack of talent or material was not the reason for Johnson’s limited success. Johnson’s poems appeared in several magazines; she was praised by her peers and critics. Indeed, she crafted poems that reflected the vivacious world of Harlem and dignity of black life. She crafted poignant words and images from subtle, seemingly unspectacular experiences. She brought forth elegantly worded contemplations on love, life, and the human experience.

Johnson’s many poems were published with some regularity until her marriage. In 1933, Johnson married William Warner Hubbell III. In 1934, her poem “Let Me Sing My Song” was published in Challenge. Other poems would not be published until 1963. Some have surmised that Johnson’s career was stymied by circumstances beyond her control. Without patronage and grants to fund her writing, she was forced to make a living like the majority of working-class Americans. As a wife and mother (she gave birth to her only child, Abigail Calachaly Hubbell, on September 18, 1940), she had little spare time to devote to her craft.

Notwithstanding Johnson’s responsibilities, she continued to write, but she remained, with few exceptions, out of the limelight. The exceptions included the publication of four of her poems in Arna Bontemps’s American Negro Poetry (1963). In 1987, Johnson attended a poetry reading at Off Center Theater in Manhattan. She died on July 6, 1995. Half a decade later, Verner D. Mitchell brought this little-known poet out of obscurity with the publication of This Waiting for Love: Helene Johnson, Poet of the Harlem Renaissance (2000). The book, which includes Johnson’s thirty-four published and thirteen unpublished poems, celebrates the life and works of this important poet.—Gladys L. Knight

JONAS, ROSALIE M.

(1861?–1953) Poet

Rosalie M. Jonas was born in 1861, or possibly 1862. Although little is known about her early years, she was a well-respected poet in Harlem, New York, and contributed to the artistic movement of the Harlem Renaissance. Her life experiences include time spent in New Orleans, as her letters from 1905 to 1909 to white illustrator Frederic Door Steele (1873–1944) contain statements about the octoroon balls of New Orleans. In this correspondence, she asks Steele to illustrate her “Negro verse” because of his sympathetic view of the Negro. One of her first works of poetry, “Little Mammy,” was published in 1898, in Harper’s Magazine, and one of her short stories, “New York Light and Shade,” was published in 1917, in Art World. Jonas was able to have her work published in numerous magazines, inclusive of McClure’s Magazine, Century Magazine, and Smart Set, well beyond the 1920s. She used dialect in her stories and poetry and the “N”-word only for poetic effect. She was known to support social projects and community issues in Harlem.

Jonas’s work was favorably received, and many of her poems and stories are in a variety of publications’ archives.—Lean’tin L. Bracks

JONES, LOIS MAILOU

(November 5, 1905–June 9, 1998) Painter, textile designer, illustrator, educator

Lois Mailou Jones

Lois Mailou Jones was a formally trained artist who used her skills as a designer and impressionistic painter to create stories that reflect black experiences and her own life in Boston, the American South, the Caribbean, and Africa. Her involvement in the New Negro Movement enabled her to enrich its visual arts focus and pass on the Harlem Renaissance legacy to future generations through her many exhibitions and forty-seven-year teaching career at Howard University.

Jones was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on November 5, 1905, to Thomas Vreeland Jones, a lawyer and real estate entrepreneur, and Carolyn Dorinda Adams, a cosmetologist. She began her art training at the High School of Practical Arts and later won a four-year scholarship to the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. In 1953, she married Haitian artist Louis Vergniaud Pierre-Noel.

In spite of Jones’s extensive training and strong portfolio, she was initially compelled to submit her work to businesses through a white artist. During the late 1920s, she worked as a freelance textile designer for the F. A. Foster Company in Boston, as well as the Schumacher Company in New York. Business policy, however, dictated that the design houses receive acknowledgment for the work created, not individual artists. In addition to her textile work, Jones illustrated black history stories for Associated Publishers of Washington, D.C., founded by historian Carter G. Woodson. Jones’s designs for paper mâché masks were inspired by traditional examples from throughout the world. She also designed masks for African dancer Asadata Defora’s dance company.

Through an association with the Harmon Foundation and interactions with other black artists of the 1920s and 1930s, Jones explored the richness of the black experience early in her career. She was a participating artist in the foundation’s exhibitions held in 1930, 1931, and 1933, and she won honorable mention in 1931 for Negro Youth, a charcoal drawing. Inspired by the stylistic leadership of fellow artists like Aaron Douglas, Jones’s The Ascent of Ethiopia, painted in 1932, depicts the story of black history from ancient Africa to the arts-focused 1930s.

Jones’s art career was bolstered by exhibitions at La Boheme Tea Room in New York (1927); the Salon of the Société des artistes français and Société des artistes indépendants in Paris (1938); the Robert C. Vose Galleries in Boston (1939); the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1935 and 1938); the Howard University Gallery of Art (1937); and Morgan State College (now Morgan State University, 1940). In 1941, the painting Indian Shops, Gay Head, Massachusetts won her the Robert Woods Bliss Prize for Landscape at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. A major retrospective of her work was held in 1990, at the Meridian International Center of Washington, D.C.

In 1930, Jones began her teaching career at Howard University, following her establishment of the art department at Palmer Memorial Institute in Sedalia, North Carolina. At Howard, she dedicated her time to teaching design, drawing, and watercolor painting. During her tenure, her students included artists Elizabeth Catlett, David C. Driskell, Earl J. Hooks, Stephanie E. Pogue, Tritobia Benjamin, and Malkia Roberts. Jones retired in 1977.

One of the architects of the Harlem Renaissance, Alain Locke, philosopher and department head at Howard, directed her attention to the history of black people. In her 1938 painting Les Fétiches, inspired by traditional African masks, Jones addresses the stately spirit of a continent that was often misrepresented by stereotypical images and long-standing cultural traditions. Just as Countee Cullen wrote about Africa in his poem Heritage, Jones’s crusade for Africa’s rich artistic legacy is reflected in her paintings.

Following the example of Aaron Douglass, Meta Warrick Fuller, and other American artists, Jones looked to Europe—most notably Paris—to further her arts education and training. In 1937, she received a General Education Fellowship and began a nine-month study at the Académie Julian under Pierre Montezin and Jules Adler. She also began a friendship with African American artist and expatriate Albert Smith, which lasted until his death in Paris. Although expatriate artist Henry O. Tanner died in Paris before she could benefit from his guidance, his remarkable artistic accomplishments nonetheless inspired her to have a memorable career. During this time, she developed an appreciation for painting in natural light and an outdoor environment. Jones was also encouraged by several established artists and received constructive criticism of her work. It was the Parisian experience that led to the artist’s signature painting style of using bold colors and the expressive use of form in her paintings.

Jones’s interest in the black experience in the Americas continued to be a factor in her lifelong quest to create art. Paintings that represent the diversity of the black presence include Harlem Backyard; Negro Shack I, Sedalia, North Carolina; Negro Musician; and Brown Boy. Her painting Mob Victim–Mediation is a poignant reminder of the horrors of lynching.

Living in Washington, D.C. allowed Jones to become active in a vibrant arts community. Her association with the notable Barnett-Aden Arts Collection, started by Professor James Herring of Howard University in 1943, allowed her works to be promoted during a time when black artists in the city were being excluded from most mainstream art galleries and museums. To reach the everyday man and woman, she exhibited in numerous public schools and libraries. Jones was an active member of the District of Columbia Art Association (DCAA), which began in 1961, and was primarily comprised of art educators working in the local public school system. Her membership in DCAA provided long-standing bonds with such artists as Delilah W. Pierce, Peter L. Robinson Jr., Richard Dempsey, Georgette Seabrooke Powell, and Alma Thomas.

Jones died in Washington, D.C.—Robert L. Hall

JONES, MAGGIE [FAYE BARNES]

(1900–?) Singer

While the career of the “Texas Nightingale” barely spanned a decade during the Harlem Renaissance era, Maggie Jones recorded numerous songs with such artists as Louis Armstrong, Fletcher Henderson, Charlie Green, and Gladys Bentley.

Born Faye Barnes in Hillsboro, Texas, around 1900, she changed her name to Maggie Jones in the early 1920s when she moved to New York City to pursue her singing career. To supplement her musical earnings, Barnes also co-owned a dress shop in the city.

On July 26, 1923, under the name Maggie Jones, the singer became one of the first women from Texas to record a song. During the course of the next three years, she recorded forty selections and alternate takes. Jones recorded with labels like Black Swan, Victor, and Paramount Recording. She toured with the Theater Owners’ Booking Association, during which time she performed at the Princess Theater in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. By 1927, Jones was working with the Clarence Muse Vaudeville Company. She appeared on Broadway in Blackbirds of 1928 from 1928 to 1929. Much of her work is contained in a two-volume self-titled set: Maggie Jones, Volume 1, 1923 to 1925 and Maggie Jones, Volume 2, 1925–1929. Some of her best-known songs include “Anybody Here Want to Try My Cabbage,” “Good-Time Flat Blues,” “Undertaker’s Blues,” and “Single Woman’s Blues.”

In the early 1930s, Jones moved to Houston, Texas, and opened her own venue. She also performed at All-American Cabaret in Fort Worth, Texas, among others. Nothing more is known of her after the mid-1930s.—Amanda J. Carter

JONES, MATILDA SISSIERETTA JOYNER [BLACK PATTI]

(January 5, 1869–June 24, 1993) Singer

A precursor of the Harlem Renaissance, the career of Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones began in the early 1890s. Her success paved the way for many classically trained singers who later emerged during the Harlem Renaissance as a result of her pioneering efforts.

Jones was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, in 1869, to Malachi Joyner, a Baptist minister, and Henrietta Beale Joyner. Although she had a naturally beautiful singing voice, she was also influenced by her mother, whose commanding soprano voice could be heard in the church choir. The family relocated to Providence, Rhode Island, when Jones was only five years old so that she could study classical voice. Where she actually studied is unclear; however, she had private lessons from various teachers in different cities and developed a voice of considerable power and quality. She was soon in demand as a singer, giving concerts in local churches. She married and later divorced David Richard Jones, a compulsive gambler who wasted the money his wife earned as a performer.

Jones gave her first professional performance while still a student in 1887, performing to race notices before 5,000 people at Boston’s Music Hall. She also performed at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music and gave a concert at Wallack’s Theatre in Boston. She took an eight-month tour, performing to packed houses in Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and elsewhere. In addition, Jones toured the West Indies with the Tennessee Jubilee Singers, not to be confused with the Fisk Jubilee Singers. When she returned home, Jones became the star attraction at the Grand Negro Jubilee at Madison Square Garden in April 1892, and she then performed at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. She continued to tour in the United States and throughout the world, singing before U.S. presidents and foreign royalty.

Henry Abbey, who was Jones’s manager, had also managed the career of Italian opera singer Adelina Patti (1893–1919). Jones was often compared to Patti. Thus, she became known as the “Black Patti.” Although she disliked the title, it followed her for the remainder of her career. Jones found the limited opportunities that she had to perform in white venues unacceptable and launched her own company of performers, the Black Patti and Her Troubadors. The Troubadors toured the United States from 1895 to 1916, and had tremendous drawing power in new black-owned theaters in the South’s major cities. They toured abroad as well.

Around 1908, audiences tired of the unsophisticated buffoonery of the minstrel format and preferred standard musical comedy instead. The group reemerged as Black Patti Musical Comedy Company. Among the countless black performers who built their careers around one or both of the comedy vehicles were Aida Overton Walker, Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, and dancer Ida Forsyne. Jones made tremendous breakthroughs for black female performers and African Americans in general. The final show came in 1916, in New York’s Gibson Theater. Yet, by then, financial difficulties had taken a toll on the company. Minstrelsy was dead. After that, Jones return to Providence and devoted herself to church work and a variety of causes. She died penniless in Providence’s Rhode Island Hospital.—Jessie Carney Smith

JONES, MAUDE

(?–June 3, 1940) Entertainer

A little-known and minor personality on the Harlem Renaissance stage, Maude Jones performed dramatic portrayals and recitations in the New York area and was known as an “elocutionist.” Duse’ Mohammed Ali praised one of her performances in New York City at the Mother Zion Church on March 3, 1922. He admired her rendition of a poem by Edgar Allan Poe and enjoyed her attempt to express “Ode to Ethiopia,” by Paul Laurence Dunbar; however, he was somewhat critical of her ability to adequately deliver it in authentic Negro dialect. He praised her interpretation of the “Cremation of Samuel McGhee,” by Robert W. Service. During the evening, Jones also performed some of the male and female roles from Shakespeare’s plays, including Romeo and Juliet. Ali extolled her as a genius and proclaimed her the “Colored Ellen Terry,” comparing her to one of the most famous English actresses of that era.—Glenda Marie Alvin