University North Carolina chapel hill. My parents earnest jones and mom pertis jones. Dad, a farmer born and raised on a farm. That was his life. Thats what he loved to do. Im a member of a family of ten children, 6 boys and 4 girls. And the first five children was born as routen because their dad was routen and he was killed cutting logs in the wood. So that first five were very young when he died, and then my dad, earnest jones married my mama and has five more children. But my dad raised all ten of us because they were very, very young when their dad got killed. And basically what he did was we were very disciplined, had a seventh grade education. Mom had a seventh grade education but very bright, brilliant people. And one of the ambition they had and they gave us as we were little kids he had two goals for us. He wanted all of us educated and he wanted to see all ten of us in heaven. And so he wanted us to be committed to church, hard work and school. So i had the pleasure of going to school all the way through elementary, all the way through high school and i never missed a day. He was mean and tough on us going to school. So we had to get up 4 00 in the morning, milk the cows, feed the pigs and do all of this, walk 1 mile from the house to the dirt road where the bus came by and catch the bus at 6 45. And you had to do that. That fast your chore and it applied to everybody. The girls and boys the same way. So we had the fortune of understanding work very early and going to school very early. And thats kind of what dad shaped. He said he was when he bought his first acre of land he was 13 years old. He paid 1. 25. It took him six months to make that 1. 25. So the farm we grew up on were part of my mamas side but he added to the acreage and grew us a good farm and we farmed cotton and corn and then we had because he couldnt borrow any money in those days he created a large piece of the farm and we had peach orchards and berries and the cash sale we made from the fruits and vejtinals and what he used to fund the cotton and corn. When i was a little boy there was a lot of folks there. Its never has been an incorporated town. Its just a village. I mind say i grew up it was a hundred kids maybe. And what happened is most of the kids grew up with me. Went to detroit, dallas, texas, houston, texas, all those places looking for work. We were the only black farm group in willisville with a farm. All the other kids worked on farms but they were not theirs, primarily white farmers. And that was hard because they werent allowed to go to school. They came to school maybe after thanksgiving. But by march it was time to start tilling the soil again. They had to come back to work, so a lot of them didnt have that opportunity i had to go to school from grade 1 through high school. Howd you father manage the farm without all that extra help that would have been there if he hadnt sent you every day to school . Well, what he did was all of us was big enough to something from older sisters and brothers, but also he always used there were some older kids that dropped out of school and just kind of wandered. And he he would go get those kids and bring them back and they would work with their with us. And he would pay them at the end of the day or the end of the week. They were kpietd unt that because when they worked on other farms they didnt own a lot of time they were put on the books. And the problem with that system is they never made enough money, they never worked hard enough to pay off those debts. And dad would have them come over in september when the state fair was taking place and he would say come over here late evening and ill give you a little work so you have a few bucks to go to the fair. Everybody wanted to go to the fair but they didnt have any money so thats how dad helped out. And therapy gracious to come out and work at our place as well. Were they active in the naacp . My mama was very active. Dad stayed very close to the farm, you know, day in, day out. But sunday was a day you couldnt touch the farm. I mean, that was a day you had no choice but to get up and down the dirt road and fighting the dust going to church, all day long church. Not one service like the city folk out at 12 00. No, you went to the church in the morning and when you get out of that church you went to another church because my mom had a beautiful singing voice and everybody in the neighborhood wanted her to come sing. Wed hop in the back of the truck and somebody had a 5 00 meeting, wed go to that church. So it was church, church, church, church. Oh, yeah, i had plenty of church. Tell me about their sense of politics and race relations. My mama everybody called my mama vic. As a matter of fact when she passed away and a lot of folks called the funeral home in magnolia and said who is this pe pertis jones. And the undertakersize said everyone knows her as vic. Hundreds and hundreds of people came in, but mom maw on she was very active in organizations, naacp in magnolia, that was the closest place. And when she would come back she would talk to kids at church. They talked about in meetings how we could do better, how folk need to learn how to fix up their own homes and all that and stop depending on outside people. And then she would when they would have those meetings she and her sister would throw people in the back of the old pick up truck and they were gone. And there was not a thing where she would ask permission. Shed just get in the truck and go through and get in this truck, and they would go to the meetings. So the kids would go into the room and they were glad to jump into the back of the truck and go somewhere. And that was her. She was just very active all over the place. And when she learned about what people were doing she would come back to church and talk to the Church People about what we need to do is we need to get the men together to do this and the women get together because thats the kind of thing she would learn from the naacp meeting. Brown v. Board to montgomery to little rock, special little rock given where you were the one thing i remember is was the brown case, Thurgood Marshal and my dad he had this big old radio and it was very powerful. In arkansas we could peck ick u. Louis. And put out on radio that on that day 12 00 noon, its standstill at 12 00 noon because the Supreme Court is fixing to make an announcement. And that announcement and the Supreme Court, theyre going to change this whole nation. So daddy, you know, said and he went to the Little School sweet home where i was going to school. He went on there and told the teacher about it and said that we need to make sure everybody hear what is about to be said. So he had that much politics in his head, and people got those radios and really was listening for that announcement. So he stayed on top of stuff. He was that same way about farming. He could not borrow money from administration, but what he would do is he kept his eyes very close on what white farmers were doing and some of the wealthier white farmers would use the plows and they would break a plow and they had the ability to go and get money and get a new one. What he did is hed ask those black guys working for those white owners is what theyre going to do with that plow, oh, nothing. I want to see if i can get that plow. So theyd say earnest want that plow. He can have it, its broke. And he would take up to a Vocation School and the kids were experienced in welding and we would use those plows. So those were an accumulation he couldnt have to pay for. So he was on top of the farming as well as the political side of things. The fact your father owned his own farm, how much of that mattered in two ways, one in relation to other members of the black community locally and in relation to maybe how your life unfolded in in a sense of how you measured your own possibilities and independence. The first part on the farm side when mom and dad, people who lived on other farms and they had very poorhouses, he knew that if we did any kind of work on those houses they would get tossed off the farm. What he would do is hed have us to go help them. Wed go cut wood and put it on the inside to seal the holes and everything. And that was no cost. And that was something we, his sons, we had to do it. And i remember one time my brother under me he took a quarter from this lady. Yall do so much and were so thankful. And i told chester, dont take no money. This is something he want us to do for folks. And we went home and daddy will say did you boys take any money. I said no sir and well, chester did. He took the quarter and we wept to Church Sunday and he made chester take that quarter up to the pulpit and put it in offer. He could not spend it. And we did that for a lot of elderly people. On the other side i was being kind of trained to do something pretty good, but i didnt see it because dad and mama would go to the school and would have all these talks with the teachers. And what they were talking about later on i learned from my older sisters and brothers is that they said, james, dad and mom are very proud of you. Youre real smart and theyll tell those teachers to push you, push you real hard because you got the smarts. I learned later because i always had to do everything in school. We have a school program, we want you to be the mc, we want you to start that group, we want you to be over the Agriculture Program and i had all these assignments. So when i i would come home i didnt get a chance to go out and play because i had to do all these things. Now, james, youve got to get all that stuff done. So between feeding the hogs and chickens and all that, by that time its dark. And i also played basketball on a basketball team. But i didnt see anything in that. But when i got a little further in school toward 11th grade i could see it. We want you to do some marvelous things, james, and youve got the skill, youre smart. You do good work in school. Youre going places. They started encouraging me. And when that happened i was playing basketball, and this was a real shock to me because, you know, we worked hard and dad didnt give me no money, and wed always ask, daddy, other kids come work on the farm. Why do you pay them but you dont pay us, and he said thats because im saving for hard time. Dad, its pretty hard. No, you dont even know what hard time is. Youve got a place to stay, clothes. And my oldest sister and brother would write letters and say how youre doing in school and send me your grades, and, you know, back in those days a dollar you were filthy rich. Im interested were going to talk about everything thats going to happen in pine bluff after you bet there in 61 and im curious how much the early 60s were. Little rock in 57, greensborough in 60, all of what happened quickly after that. The one big favor well, not favor but one thing that prepared me really well for that is that because daddy and mama listen to the radio and they paid attention to that kind of stuff, and they were really on top of central high. And i remember one time mama said to me, she said, son, if youre ever put in that situation dont turn it down. You go forward with it. And that was a result of what i didnt realize was that my mama and my aunt and daddy in the early days they had buses come through a small town, and even in those days they were the only black folks that would get on that bus on the front seat. And then that kind of came back to me. And i said oh, were integrating the bus line. Because when central high came through it kind of and those were her words. Whenever you get an opportunity to do something for other people dont be afraid because you didnt come from an afraid it was dangerous when yall went to wear your own cotton, black people didnt like that. But youve been through it, and youve seen it. And when opportunity comes dont go to the back of the line. You go to the head of the line and be brave about it. Now, they did talk about that. And when i went to went off to school, you know, i had all that in my head. So it wasnt i wasnt looking for anything. But when i got to pine bluff and in the cities you saw real segregation. When you go to town you would see it. I wasnt organizing nothing, but i saw it as i wept downtown and i saw the holiday inns and all those. And i looked at them and only thing i sue is black folks, they were maids. When i went back home this is what my mama said to me. If you go somewhere dont you never go through a back door. If whites go through the front door you go through the front door. Now, i heard that from her. Can you tell us that story just a little bit. Well, kids who lived on a plantation they would work hard and youd have these 10 and 12 foot long sacks. And when you picked that much cotton you were hitting 60 pounds, 65 and some guys would work really good and hit as much as 80. But when they brought their bags to the gin white people didnt let them stay there to weigh their own cotton. So they would bring the bags and drop them and go back. Now, in my case daddy and mama, aunt and uncle went to the gin. They would sit right at the gin with them Double Barrel shotguns and two shells between their finger. And when we got our cotton, come on, boys. And they would go up there and weigh we would weigh our own cotton. Now, the kids who would bring their cotton to the gin, they couldnt weigh theirs. And wed sit there and watch this. Sometimes those bags would be 70 pounds of cotton. And these guys would go, well, john, whatd you think. Oh, let me see, oh, giveandtake 41 pounds. Give them the benefit of 47 pounds. So thats 40 pounds they were taking away from them. So i would sit there and witness that. The fun kind of thing we felt pretty comfortable because mom and aunt were there with those guns. So when we weighed our cotton wed look at the white folk how could you get away with that . You know, everybody in willisville and the surrounding area believed if they bothered my family there was a whole lot of killing going to take place. They believed that. Because my brother had been in a real bad racial situation. Troy, he was the only black member who wept to a town called mcneal and he got a job working the old railroad. And on the way back when they got to macneal they told troy he had to get off the train because blacks couldnt well, negro. It was negro in those days. Negroes couldnt ride the train through the town at that time. And my brother troy wouldnt get off the train. And just like my parents he had his weapon. And it was a hard knock down fight. He stabbed and cut a whole bunch of white folks. And then they chased him and shot him up pretty bad, but he got through all that. And so the white people they were going to decide to our house and kill him. And mr. Chester waters is the guy who had built a little store there. He told the people dont yall go over there, yall going to get killed. And so my daddy had some brothers, some cousins and you had to go down through these woods, this dirt road to get over to the farm. And dark at night they were coming in there to get troy. Man, there were so much shooting and so many people got hit, and i heard them screaming, oh, ive been hit. And what daddy did and his brothers when they were shooting people they went to them and took their guns. They let them go but they took all their guns. It was kind of known that the mckinneys werent the folks to mess with, and it was a lot of them, it was a bunch of them. How old were you then . Oh, 8, 9. As a matter of fact, i went up so i thought he was talking to me and i walked all the way to willisville and told this white guy tell me the impressions you formed and im thinking about you mentioned already you saw segregation in the landscape but also on the campus because that was a very important institution. When i got there pine bluff that was my first big city. The campus was very pretty. And what helped me jump start real fast is the school i went to, Oak Grove High School was a very good school. And as a matter of fact they had sent four guys from their school were professors from pine bluff. And my brother from milwaukee sent me a letter and said theres a guy in the vocational school. You go find him and tell him that my older brother cept you. And i went there and i walked into his office he looked up and said i dont know your name but youre sure one of those jones. And he recognized me and said, oh, yeah you look just like earnest jones. And i started talking and he was telling me all about school and walked around and took me all over campus. He said this is one of my boys, earnest jones boys. He really painted this beautiful picture. They are smart, and i want all you professors to keep your eyes on him. Hes a good student. Dont be putting him over in social studies. Hes good at math, algebra. He came from a high school that had all of that. One guy told me he said you might need to take preliminary courses. He said youre from a small town. I said, yeah. He said what did you have in high school . I said i had algebra. I had trigonometry. I had physics. I had biology, chemistry. He said, man, what kind of school did you go to . I said i had a school that was a very good school. As a matter of fact, the principal imported he hand picked teachers from all around to come to that school. Was it private . No, it was a school, but it was there were four schools in arkansas, and they were built way back in 1831 by the i think they were the its a group out of new york somewhere built these schools way back because i know our school was open in 1929. And the school was built and they had a vision of folks coming because the school was built with dormitories. And there were two all black school districts. Mine was one of them. And the other was arkansas city. So we had unlike a lot of other schools we had books because a lot of the white schools would give old books to the black school, but we had good books and teachers. So i had a good start. Youre describing a personal history that isnt very typical for folks in that time. Yeah. So when i got to pine bluff i was very comfortable and had met somebody and he took me around. And he introduced me to dr. Marshal. And dr. Marshal was a professor on campus and he had another little house right by his house. And asked me well, youre going to live in a dormitory, ive got to live somewhere. And the doctor said put him over there and you will take a liking to this young man. And so we started talking, and hes saying you sure know a lot to be a country boy. These country kids come up and they dont knownothing. We think the city kids no know everything. And so we just start talking. And then he was the one told me he said theres some folks in little rock that are trying to get a civil rights thing started. And they went to smith and they didnt have no luck there because all those kids were city kids and they were going to get put out of school and all that. And he said id like for you to meet those guys. And thats how i met greenwich and bill hansen. And so two days later they came and start talking. So bill said dang, man, youve already done what we tried to do. I said, well, thats how i was raised. And he said this w