{"id":4044,"date":"2025-01-28T15:33:16","date_gmt":"2025-01-28T21:33:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chicagoka.com\/?p=4044"},"modified":"2025-01-28T15:33:18","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T21:33:18","slug":"mary-j-richardson-jones-african-american-advocate-and-fighter-for-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chicagoka.com\/en\/eternal-4044-mary-j-richardson-jones-african-american-advocate-and-fighter-for-justice","title":{"rendered":"Mary J. Richardson Jones: African American advocate and fighter for justice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

She was the hostess of a large house that was often visited by John Brown, Allan Pinkerton and other influential people. This woman gave shelter and fed runaway slaves who came to her asking for help before sending them to Canada. She was a fearless advocate for the rights of African-Americans<\/a>. This was feminist Mary J. Richardson Jones. Discover more about her life on chicagoka.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In search of a good life<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Mary Richardson was born in 1819 in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1838, Mary and her family moved to Alton, Madison County, Illinois. At that time, African-Americans settled in the Midwest, where there was plenty of land for businesses, houses, schools and churches. In 1841, Mary married John Jones from North Carolina. Together, they became active in the African-American community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1845, the couple began looking for a place where John could open his business and decided to move to Chicago. Along the way, they escaped arrest after they were accused of being fugitive slaves. They arrived in Chicago with $3. Despite everything, they were not only able to get a good job but also continued their active work, helping to protect and develop the African-American community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community activities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Joneses became members of the old African-American community in Chicago. It was founded as a prayer group in 1844. Three years later, the parishioners united with the African-American Methodist Episcopal Church, located in Quinn Chapel. It became a center for black activists in Chicago, who claimed that the abolition of slavery played an important role in their spiritual lives. Like most African-American communities in 19th-century America, the church\u2019s parishioners built their activities within a paradigm. The teachings of Christ compelled them to seek justice and civil rights for all black people, regardless of their status. Mary and three other African-American women always stood for justice. They did not support laws directed against African-Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Joneses turned their home into a center of black activism, organizing resistance to restrictive laws. They helped hundreds of enslaved people escape to Canada when this was illegal. In 1905, Mary personally loaded fugitives onto trains while slave catchers watched, held back by a mob of anti-slavery activists. Jones kept records of those she helped, wrote letters to former runaways and always helped when needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1861, the Joneses founded Olivet Baptist Church, which housed the first library for African-American readers. In 1871, she founded a relief group called Workers for the King at the church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Major accomplishments<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Mary was an influential woman with strong convictions who advocated for the integration of civil rights. In 1871, she was elected a commissioner of Cook County, becoming the first African-American woman to hold public office in Illinois. Jones devoted herself to philanthropy and activism. She made a huge contribution to the construction of Hull House and the Phyllis Wheatley Club in Chicago. Mary also supported young black Chicagoans, providing housing for many in her home. She was active in the development of women’s clubs and became the first president of the new Ida B. Wells Club in 1894. She led the women’s section of the Prudence Crandall Literary Club, a prominent forum for black activists and feminists in Chicago. Jones became a good mentor to a new generation of African-American women leaders, including Wells and Elizabeth Lindsay Davis. Mary Jones died in 1909.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

She was the hostess of a large house that was often visited by John Brown, Allan Pinkerton and other influential people. This woman gave shelter and fed runaway slaves who came to her asking for help before sending them to Canada. She was a fearless advocate for the rights of African-Americans. This was feminist Mary […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":279,"featured_media":4046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1035],"tags":[2510,2504,2499,2511,2509,2506,2501,2500,2502,2498,2505,2503,2508,2507],"motype":[1045],"moformat":[66],"moimportance":[33],"class_list":{"0":"post-4044","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-psychology-of-women","8":"tag-19th-century-african-american-advocates","9":"tag-abolitionist-women-pioneers","10":"tag-african-american-abolitionists","11":"tag-african-american-women-leaders","12":"tag-historical-justice-advocates","13":"tag-justice-fighters-in-history","14":"tag-mary-j-richardson-jones-biography","15":"tag-mary-jones-and-underground-railroad","16":"tag-mary-jones-chicago-activism","17":"tag-mary-jones-civil-war-contributions","18":"tag-mary-jones-equality-efforts","19":"tag-mary-jones-justice-advocacy","20":"tag-mary-richardson-jones-legacy","21":"tag-women-in-the-abolitionist-movement","22":"motype-eternal","23":"moformat-vlasna","24":"moimportance-retranslyacziya-v-agregatori"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/279"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4044"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4045,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4044\/revisions\/4045"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4044"},{"taxonomy":"motype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/motype?post=4044"},{"taxonomy":"moformat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moformat?post=4044"},{"taxonomy":"moimportance","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moimportance?post=4044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}