Commemorating Annie E. Jones

By Assistant Professor History Program, Department of Social Sciences School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Elizabeth City State University, and Friends of the Museum of the Albemarle board member

MOA’s Women Breaking Barriers exhibit, which opened last November, commemorates the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in the United States. The exhibit highlights contributions made by northeastern North Carolina women in academics, activism, entertainment, the arts, and other areas.

The exhibit’s opening coincided with efforts by the National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites to create a National Votes for Women Trail that will feature historical markers to commemorate women who contributed to women’s suffrage. One marker candidate, and recent addition to the museum’s exhibit and accompanying mural, is Annie E. Jones of Elizabeth City.

ANNIE E. JONES, AUGUST 21, 1922

Courtesy of The Independent

By 1908 most Black North Carolinians were disenfranchised through discriminatory election laws. When the 19th Amendment was added to the US Constitution in 1920, it represented an opportunity for Black women to challenge those laws. Jones was one woman who intended to act for change.

A 1901 graduate of Elizabeth City State Colored Normal School (today ECSU), teacher, and later school principal, Jones immediately organized voter education classes in Elizabeth City and Pasquotank County. In describing their diligence and preparedness, Jones said, “We colored women are going to know the subject of government from the township unit up to the national Congress, and most of us already can show you how to read and interpret the Constitution of the United States.”

The determination of Jones and other Black women in northeastern North Carolina was mirrored across the state. Unfortunately, it was also matched by a White power structure determined to prevent them from voting; and these counterefforts proved largely effective in 1920. As a result, only three Black women successfully registered to vote in Elizabeth City that year. It is not difficult to imagine that one of these women was likely Annie E. Jones.

If our Annie E. Jones marker nomination is approved, the William G. Pomeroy Foundation will fully fund its creation.