Grace Morris Allen Jones

Grace Morris Allen Jones (7 January 1876 – 2 March 1928) was an African American educator, school founder, fundraiser, postmaster, clubwoman, reformer, and writer. As well as founding her own vocational training school in Burlington, Iowa, she was instrumental in the success of Piney Woods Country Life School, which she ran with her husband, Laurence C. Jones, in Mississippi. to James Addison Morris and Mary Ellen Morris, née Pyles. The family was educated and well-off. The piece told the story of Charlotta Pyles’ escape from slavery, and her successful efforts to free other enslaved people. She also established the first integrated kindergarten in Burlington. at schools in Bethel and Slater. In 1902, she returned to Burlington, and established the Grace M. Allen Industrial School The school employed both black and white staff, and although intended for African American students, its success and reputation led white students to attend. becoming an Executive Secretary and teacher of English Jones recalled his first impression of Grace in Piney Woods and Its Story, writing that he 'thought her the brightest and most enthusiastic little woman of my race that I had ever met. I saw in her my ideal and felt sure that we should meet again some day—and we did. The Crisis described her as having 'proved her fitness to share in his ambitions by a number of years' service in successful teaching' and Jones himself noted in 1922 that it was:...largely by reason of her energy and skill, her devotion and enthusiasm, that we have been able to accomplish more within the last few years than in any previous years in the history of the school.

Building on her earlier fundraising experience, and dismayed by the situation of students without money for tuition, Jones sought to raise money for Piney Woods through lecture tours throughout the US. Performances by the group were followed by telling the Piney Woods story, after which donations were collected. She was also a President of the Women's Christian Union, An obituary in The Annals of Iowa wrote that she 'exerted an unusual influence for good during her very active career', and Laurence C. Jones that 'to record... [her worth] would make a book in itself and then it would only be half-told, for it is too great to be fashioned into words. Only the lives of those she has helped express it.'