Ida E. Jones (born 1970) is an American historian and author who is the University Archivist at

Morgan State University Morgan State University (Morgan State or MSU) is a public historically black research university in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the largest of Maryland's historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). In 1867, the university, then known ...

, the first archivist in the university's history. Previously she worked as Assistant Curator of Manuscripts at the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the Middle States Commissi ...

where as part of her work she created a Guide to Resources on Africa. Jones was the National Director of the

Association of Black Women Historians The Association of Black Women Historians (ABWH) is a non-profit professional association based in Washington, D.C., in the United States. The organization was developed in 1977 and formally founded in 1979. History The Association of Black Wome ...

(ABWH) from 2011 through 2013. Her work has focused on DC-area African American history, letting the voices and lived experiences of people tell their stories. Her job working as an archivist gives her access to primary source material that has used for her books. She has said, about the relationship of her day job to her writing, "My Bruce Wayne is a in a special collection working as an assistant curator. My Batman is writing." She describes her work in archives as "tactile time travel." Her research has filled in the gaps about our knowledge of well known Black people in history including

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became ...

and

Mary McLeod Bethune Mary Jane McLeod Bethune ( McLeod; July 10, 1875 – May 18, 1955) was an American educator, philanthropist, humanitarian, Womanism, womanist, and civil rights activist. Bethune founded the National Council of Negro Women in 1935, established th ...

. When Jones was the director of ABWH, the organization released a statement concerning the unrealistic depictions of Black domestic workers in the film

The Help ''The Help'' is a historical fiction novel by American author Kathryn Stockett and published by Penguin Books in 2009. The story is about African Americans working in white households in Jackson, Mississippi, during the early 1960s. A ''USA To ...

, both in their lack of agency and the exaggerated dialect they spoke in. The statement received mainstream media attention from sources ranging from Entertainment Weekly to the Chicago Tribune and National Public Radio Jones is a life member of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History where she served on the Executive Council and helped the organization revive their newsletter ''Negro History Bulletin'' before it became ''Black History Bulletin.'' She served on the D.C. Community Humanities Council from 2006 through 2008.

Early life and education

Jones was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts to Enos and Iris (Greenridge) Jones, one of two children. She received her B.A. in journalism, an M.A. in Public History and a Ph.D. in American History in 2001, all from

. She received the Harold T. Pinkett Minority Student Award from the Society of American Archivists in 1995.

Bibliography

* The Heart of the Race Problem: the Life of Kelly Miller (2001) * Mary McLeod Bethune in Washington, D.C.; Education and Activism in Logan Circle (2013 ) * William Henry Jernagin in Washington, D.C. Faith in the Fight for Civil Rights (2015 ) * Baltimore Civil Rights Leader: Victorine Quille Adams (2019 )

References

External links

Personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Ida E. 1970 births Morgan State University people American archivists African-American historians Living people Historians from Maryland 21st-century African-American academics 21st-century American academics 20th-century African-American academics 20th-century American academics