Ruby Jones Papers

File

Identifier: 037

Staff Only

This collection is divided into six series: Correspondence, Educational Materials, Civil Rights Materials, Religious Materials, Organizational Materials, and Family and Posthumous Materials. Items in the collection span from the early twentieth century until the late 1970s. Her files contain letters written to her from various teachers and friends, her former students’ papers, items from the sorority Phi Delta Kappa, teaching supplements, paperwork from various organizations, and books used in teaching. They also include paper pamphlets from religious events attended as well as other general religious pamphlets, her personal diaries and notebooks, and books she received as gifts from friends and family members. Her personal files also include her obituary as well as newspapers from when West Chester State College changed the name of the Demonstration School to Ruby Jones Hall in 1977.

Dates

1911-1976

Conditions Governing Access

Open for research.

Extent

6 Boxes

Additional Description

Biographical / Historical

Ruby Johnson Jones, born in Evergreen Alabama to Elizabeth and Rufus Johnson, traveled with her family at a young age to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania during the early stages of the Great Migration. After graduating from Langley High School in 1928, Jones enrolled in the two-year elementary education program at Cheyney Normal School, thus beginning her teaching career. Ruby Jones went on to teach at various elementary schools in the Philadelphia region over the course of several decades, in addition to earning a bachelor’s degree from West Chester State Teachers College in 1940 and a master’s of Science degree from Temple University. Ruby Jones found employment at the Demonstration School through Dr. Earl Sykes in 1961, becoming the first African American to teach at West Chester University, then known as West Chester State College. In 1968, Jones became Assistant Professor of Education and supervisor of student teachers.

Jones served as an active choir member of the Bethel AME Church on Miner Street in West Chester, as well as an active faculty advisor of West Chester State College’s Phi Delta Kappa Sorority. She was also active in the Civil Rights movement. Ruby Jones was married to her husband Raymond Jones until his death in 1969, and had no descendants. The building once called the Demonstration School was renamed for Ruby Jones in the fall of 1977; and stands West Chester University's campus on the corner of S. Church Street and University Avenue.