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Clara Stanton Jones:
Significant figure in librarianship and her husband honored with scholarship
(Jun 2007) Many students of color working in the information professions today have a University of Michigan graduate to thank for opening doors when so many were bolted shut to them.
It was long ago when Clara Stanton Jones (ABLS '38) began her career in libraries and set out to educate and serve the community. She saw opportunities and made the most of them, leaving a trail of accomplishments that students today aspire to emulate.
Now 94 years old and living in California, she and her husband are being honored by their three children through the Albert D. and Clara Stanton Jones Scholarship at the School of Information.
The children are Stanton Jones of Oakland, California, consultant for the City of San Francisco and retired military officer; Vinetta Jones, a professor at Howard University and former dean of its School of Education; and Kenneth Jones, a former White House Fellow and a nuclear engineer and executive with Westinghouse, Inc.
Stanton Jones said his parents instilled in their children the desire to "persevere and succeed." The scholarship, he said, is a fitting testament to a life of service to others by the couple.
"Our parents deserve a legacy," he said.
Albert Jones, born in Louisiana and a summa cum laude graduate of New Orleans University, was first a railway mail carrier for four years before becoming a probation officer and a social worker in Detroit until his retirement.
The accomplishments of Clara Stanton Jones have included:
- Working for the Detroit Public Library from 1944-78, retiring as its director.
- Serving as the first African-American president of the American Library Association in 1976. During her presidency, the ALA adopted a "Resolution on Racism and Sexism Awareness."
- Fighting in 1977 against the ALA's Intellectual Freedom Committee, which recommended to the ALA Executive Board that the resolution be rescinded.
- Receiving the Trailblazer Award in 1990 from the Black Caucus of the ALA, the highest award given by BCALA. The award recognizes individuals whose pioneering contributions have been outstanding and unique, and whose efforts have "blazed a trail" in the profession.
Before coming to Michigan, Jones attended Milwaukee State Teachers College in 1930. She graduated from Spelman College in 1934. Before moving on to Detroit, she was a librarian at Dillard University in New Orleans after marrying Albert Jones.
"I made it my business to try to meet her again and show her some 'courtesies,'" Albert Jones said in an interview with Contemporary Black Biography (CBB). "We ended up courting through the mail and once by telephone each year. Can you imagine lovers planning to get married and we only spoke once a year? We made great preparation for that one phone call! For a while we didn't know what to talk about, but we finally got it together."
Before moving to Detroit, she was associate librarian of Southern University. In 1944, she moved to Detroit and accepted a posiition at the Detroit Public Library. In 1970, she became the first African-American and first female director of that library.
Her appointment created controversy, however, and many in Detroit wanted her out as director. A coalition of progressive business people, labor leaders, community leaders, and educators stood by her. Two library board members and the acting director quit immediately when the rest of the board sided with Jones.
Through the years, Jones helped develop branch libraries and created outreach programs to give access to citizens who never used libraries. Many Detroiters had come from the South and were used to institutions like libraries being reserved for whites only.
To empower the community by using the library, she spoke at churches, schools, and community centers. She used the media to tell the story of what the library could do for Detroiters.
A high point for Jones was a speech she to the American Library Association Annual Conference on "Reflections on Library Service to the Disadvantaged." That speech was published in pamphlet form.
Her accomplishments were recognized by the School in 1971 when she was selected for the Alumni-in-Residence program.
The Jones family gift is part of the Michigan Difference Campaign.
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Clara and Albert Jones, surrounded by their children (from left), Stanton, Vinetta, and Kenneth.
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