Jones, Wesley Norwood
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Jones, Wesley Norwood
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Meredith College Trustee 1889-1928, North Carolina lawyer, government official, and legislator who supported 1898 White Supremacy Campaign and disfranchisement.
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Longtime trustee, Board of Trustees President, Baptist leader, prominent lawyer, and brother-in-law to Senator Josiah W. Bailey, Wesley Norwood (W. N.) Jones was routinely cited in North Carolina newspapers as a legal authority in support of the 1900 suffrage amendment that disenfranchised African Americans. Jones joined at least four members of the Meredith College Board of Trustees on the committees charged with organizing and celebrating white supremacist North Carolina Governor Charles B. Aycock’s inauguration in 1901. In 1904, Jones (Meredith Trustee 1889-1928) and fellow longtime trustee, Carey Johnson Hunter (C. J. Hunter, 1892-1922; BOT Executive Committee Chair) called for Wake County to support R. R. Glenn a “true and tried Democrat” who “On every stump his eloquent voice has been heard for white supremacy.” However, Jones’ support for white supremacy is most evident in the leadership role he played as a stockholder and Vice President of Raleigh’s News & Observer. Most historians identify the News & Observer, under Josephus Daniels’ leadership, as playing a leading role in promoting the White Supremacy Campaign of 1898 as well as securing disfranchisement and Jim Crow policies throughout North Carolina. W.N. Jones also held significant political and religious leadership positions within the state serving as the Commissioner of Labor and President of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.
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2 July 1852
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20 October 1928
Position: 559 (13 views)
