Sarah Gibson Jones

{{Short description|American journalist, educator, and poet (1843–1938)}}

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Sarah Gibson Jones (1843 – {{fdate|1938|MDY}}) was an African American educator, journalist, poet, lecturer, and clubwoman. She may have been the first Black female journalist in the United States.

Early life

Sarah Gibson Jones was born in 1843 in Alexandria, Virginia. She moved with her family to Cincinnati, Ohio. She studied with private tutors{{Cite book|last=Smith|first=Jessie Carney|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ssMBzqrUpjwC&q=sarah+gibson+jones+cincinnati+ohio&pg=PA359|title=Notable Black American Women|date=1992|publisher=VNR AG|isbn=978-0-8103-9177-2|pages=359|language=en}} and at the Colored Public Schools. She studied at the University of Cincinnati.{{Cite book|last=Mather|first=Frank Lincoln|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tWTXAAAAMAAJ&q=sarah+gibson+jones+cincinnati+ohio&pg=PA163|title=Who's who of the Colored Race: A General Biographical Dictionary of Men and Women of African Descent ; Vol. 1|date=1915|language=en}}

Career

Sarah Gibson worked as a governess and teacher. In 1862, she worked for J.P. Sampson at the Colored Citizen, and was likely the first Black female journalist in the United States.{{Cite book|last=Hine|first=Darlene Clark|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bSETAQAAMAAJ&q=sarah+gibson+jones+cincinnati+ohio|title=Black Women's History: Theory and Practice|date=1990|publisher=Carlson Pub.|isbn=978-0-926019-16-4|language=en}} In 1863, she began teaching for the Cincinnati Colored School Board. From 1875 to 1911, she taught in the Elm Street Colored School in Walnut Hills, Cincinnati. In 1904, she joined the Federation of Colored Women's Clubs.{{Cite web|date=2018-02-06|title=Sarah Gibson Jones {{!}} Walnut Hills Historical Society|url=http://www.walnuthillsstories.org/stories/sarah-gibson-jones/|access-date=2021-05-19|language=en-US}} The Ohio State Federation of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs named her their poet laureate.

Personal life

In 1865, she married Marshall P. H. Jones. They had three children, though only Joseph Lawrence Jones survived past infancy.

Sarah Gibson Jones died on 21 October 1938.{{Cite web|title=Jones, Sarah Emily Gibson|url=https://oxfordaasc.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195301731.001.0001/acref-9780195301731-e-38398|access-date=2021-05-19|website=Oxford African American Studies Center|year=2013|language=en|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.38398|last1=Gardner|first1=Eric|isbn=9780195301731}}