Camille Cohen Jones
{{Short description|American community leader}}
{{Hatnote|For the Danish singer with a similar name, see Camille Jones.}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Camille Cohen Jones
| image = CamilleCohenJones1929.png
| alt =
| caption = Camille Cohen Jones, from a 1929 profile in The Crisis
| birth_name = Camille Marie Cohen
| birth_date = January 1, 1884
| birth_place = New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
| death_date = October 17, 1928 (aged 44)
| death_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
| other_names = Camille Cohen Bell
| occupation = Community leader, clubwoman
| years_active =
| known_for = Founder, Louisiana Club of Chicago
| notable_works =
| spouse(s) =
| father = Walter L. Cohen
| relatives =
}}
Camille Marie Cohen Jones (January 1, 1884 – October 17, 1928), sometimes written Camille Cohen-Jones, was an American community leader active in national women's and political organizations, and was the founder and leader of the Louisiana Social and Beneficial Club, also known as the Louisiana Club of Chicago. The club connected and assisted fellow black Louisianans arriving in Chicago as part of the Great Migration.
Early life and education
Cohen was born in New Orleans, the daughter of Walter L. Cohen and Wilhelmina Seldon Cohen. Her father, who was the Catholic son of a Jewish father and a Black mother, was an insurance executive and city official in New Orleans.{{Cite news |last=Calvin |first=Floyd J. |date=1928-06-09 |title=Says Cohen to Quit Politics |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/1138088044/?match=1&clipping_id=165093372 |access-date=2025-02-09 |work=New Pittsburgh Courier |pages=1 |via=Newspapers.com}} She graduated from Straight University at age 18.
Career
Cohen was a clerk and a school teacher as a young woman, and worked as her father's private secretary. After her second marriage, she taught music,{{Cite journal |date=December 1922 |title=The Horizon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3re7GgKYNl8C&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=Camille%20Cohen%20Jones&pg=RA2-PA76#v=onepage&q=Camille%20Cohen%20Jones&f=false |journal=The Crisis |volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=76}} sang on radio programs,{{Cite news |date=1923-08-04 |title=Station KYW |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/bristol-herald-courier-station-kyw/165078121/ |access-date=2025-02-09 |work=Bristol Herald Courier |pages=3 |via=Newspapers.com}} and was active in Chicago politics.{{Cite news |date=1924-06-10 |title=Negro Delegates Supply First Color Story in Convention (continued) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-baltimore-sun-negro-delegates-supply/142172976/ |access-date=2025-02-09 |work=The Baltimore Sun |pages=2 |via=Newspapers.com}} She was national chair of publicity for the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs{{Cite news |date=1927-02-12 |title=Daughter Weds Rich Manufacturer |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/new-pittsburgh-courier-daughter-weds-ric/165077865/ |access-date=2025-02-09 |work=New Pittsburgh Courier |pages=6 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |last=Jones |first=Camille Cohen |date=1927-06-18 |title=Southeastern Federation of Colored Women's Clubs Ends Biennial at B'Ham |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-birmingham-reporter-southeastern-fed/118422904/ |access-date=2025-02-09 |work=The Birmingham Reporter |pages=1}} and a member of the National Republican League of Women Voters.{{Cite news |date=1928-10-27 |title=Mrs. Camille Cohen Jones, Noted Club Woman, Dies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-birmingham-reporter-mrs-camille-coh/165070841/ |access-date=2025-02-09 |work=The Birmingham Reporter |pages=5 |via=Newspapers.com}} "Men should not have everything," she told an audience in 1924. "they certainly do not accomplish everything."{{Cite news |date=1924-06-28 |title=Women Who Fail to Vote are Scored |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/new-pittsburgh-courier-women-who-fail-to/165079108/ |access-date=2025-02-09 |work=New Pittsburgh Courier |pages=1 |via=Newspapers.com}}
She corresponded frequently with W. E. B. Du Bois in the 1920s, about politics and events in Chicago.[https://credo.library.umass.edu/search?q=name:%22Jones,%20Camille%20Cohen%22 Correspondence between W. E. B. Du Bois and Camille Cohen Jones], 1923 to 1927, in the W. E. B. Du Bois Papers, University of Massachusetts Amherst. She was a contributing editor for the Associated Negro Press.{{Cite news |date=1928-10-27 |title=Camille Cohen Jones Dies; Social, Political, and Club Leader Dies in Chicago |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/new-pittsburgh-courier-camille-cohen-jon/165077157/ |access-date=2025-02-09 |work=New Pittsburgh Courier |pages=6 |via=Newspapers.com}}
In 1926, Jones founded the Louisiana Social and Beneficial Club, a "home club" to connect and support fellow black Louisianans arriving in Chicago. The club held an annual Mardi Gras ball, processions, and other "spectacular and novel affairs", led by Jones.{{Cite news |date=1927-01-15 |title=Louisiana Social and Beneficial Club of Illinois Stage Beautiful Tableaux |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-broad-ax-louisiana-social-and-benefi/165071683/ |access-date=2025-02-09 |work=The Broad Ax |pages=2 |via=Newspapers.com}} She was also active in the Gaudeamus Charity Club and the Friendly Big Sisters Club.{{Cite news |date=1928-10-27 |title=Camille Cohen Jones Dies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-birmingham-reporter-camille-cohen-jo/165071075/ |access-date=2025-02-09 |work=The Birmingham Reporter |pages=1, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-birmingham-reporter-camille-cohen-jo/165071564/ 5] |via=Newspapers.com}}
Publications
- "An Interview with President Mary McLeod Bethune" (1926, California Eagle)
- "Your Cab Company" (1927, The Crisis){{Cite journal |last=Jones |first=Camille Cohen |date=March 1927 |title=Your Cab Company: How a Colored Man Organized a Cab Company in Chicago |url=https://ia803409.us.archive.org/9/items/sim_crisis_1927-03_34_1/sim_crisis_1927-03_34_1.pdf |journal=The Crisis |volume=34 |pages=5-6}}
- "Southeastern Federation of Colored Women's Clubs Ends Biennial at B'Ham June 8-12" (1927)
Personal life
Camille Cohen married Alva Bell and had a daughter, Yolande;{{Cite news |last=Hutchinson |first=Louise |date=1962-10-17 |title=An Old Hand at Politics is Mrs. Johnson |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-an-old-hand-at-politics/165094398/ |access-date=2025-02-09 |work=Chicago Tribune |pages=39 |via=Newspapers.com}} they divorced. She married Oscar D. Jones and moved to Chicago. She died in 1928, at the age of 44, at her daughter's home in Chicago. The cause of death was nephritis, and friends expressed concern that her illness was caused by a "some injurious reduction formula". Journalist Wendell Dabney recalled her as "magnificent in her womanhood—a dark Brunhilda, handsome, large, and free; full of joy and laughter, frank and fearless, never biting her tongue; and yet one who was never still, never dull, always going and doing and dreaming; always alive, always generous, loving and kind."Dabney, Wendell Phillips. [https://books.google.com/books?id=SwPF5SXGm6kC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=The%20Crisis%20July%201929&pg=RA2-PA410#v=onepage&q&f=false "Camille Cohen"] The Crisis (December 1929): 407.
References
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External links
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Camille Cohen}}