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Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Charles Miles Jones Papers #5168, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Bettie Bradford of Chapel Hill, N.C., in July 2004 (Acc. 99849), and from Frankie Price Stern of the Community Church of Chapel Hill, N.C., in November 2011 (Acc. 101523).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Jessica Tyree, October 2004; Amanda Loeb, September 2014

Encoded by: Jessica Tyree, October 2004; Amanda Loeb, September 2014

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• African Americans--Civil rights--North Carolina.
• African Americans--North Carolina.
• African Americans--Segregation--North Carolina.
• African Americans--Southern States.
• Chapel Hill (N.C.)--Church history.
• Chapel Hill (N.C.)--History.
• Chapel Hill (N.C.)--Race relations.
• Chapel Hill (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
• Church and social problems--North Carolina.
• Civil rights movements--North Carolina.
• Civil rights workers--North Carolina.
• Community Church of Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
• Fellowship of Southern Churchmen.
• Graham, Frank Porter, 1886-1972.
• Houser, George M.
• Jones, Charles Miles, 1906-1993.
• King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968.
• North Carolina--Race relations.
• Presbyterian Church in the U.S. Presbytery of Orange.
• Presbyterian Church--North Carolina--Clergy.
• Presbyterian Church--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Race relations--Religious aspects--Christianity.
• Racism--North Carolina.
• Rustin, Bayard, 1912-1987.
• Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
• Southern States--Race relations.

• Fellowship of Southern Churchmen Records (#3479)
• Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007, Interviews A-335 and B-41)

Charles Miles Jones, a Christian minister and social justice activist, was born 8 January 1906 in Nashville, Tenn. He studied at Maryville College near Knoxville, Tenn., 1924-1927, and at Columbia University in New York for one summer, but did not complete his undergraduate degree. He then spent just over a year running a cafe in Texas with his father.

In 1929, Jones entered Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Va., planning to pursue a career in church choir work. By the time of his graduation in 1932, he had decided to become a minister instead. Shortly before relocating to lead the Presbyterian church in Gordonsville, Va., he married Dorcas McKinney on 21 November 1932. They would later adopt a daughter, Mary, and have two more daughters, Bettie Miles, or "Beppie," and Virginia, also called "Pooh."

Jones pastored churches in Keswick, Va., and Brevard, N.C., before taking over the ministry of the Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church in Chapel Hill, N.C., in 1941. Although Jones was generally a popular figure, his social justice-focused sermons, welcoming of African Americans to services and meetings, and de-emphasizing of certain elements of Presbyterian doctrine created rifts in the congregation. A 1945 petition for his removal was turned down by the elders. Jones's direct involvement in civil rights activities further polarized his parishioners and other members of the Chapel Hill community. Most notably, Jones played a pivotal role in the Chapel Hill leg of the 1947 "Journey of Reconciliation" (also known as the first "Freedom Ride"), a journey by an interracial group committed to testing the 1946 United States Supreme Court's decision in Morgan versus Commonwealth of Virginia that said that state laws relating to segregation on interstate buses were unconstitutional. In 1952, another petition to the regional governing body of the church brought an investigation and subsequent repeated demands that Jones resign, which he did in 1953.

That year, Jones and a number of supporters formed the Community Church in Chapel Hill with a stated focus on "unity in Christian essentials, liberty in non-essentials, and charity in all things." His activism on behalf of causes such as desegregation of local businesses and labor rights, and against opponents like the Ku Klux Klan intensified during the 1950s and 1960s, both individually and as a member of groups including the Fellowship of Southern Churchmen.

After 14 years heading the Community Church, Charles Jones retired from the ministry in 1967, returning to the restaurant business until 1974. He died 6 April 1993.

The collection includes correspondence, church documents and publications, clippings, and other items reflecting Charles Miles Jones's work as a Presbyterian minister and concern for civil rights. Materials generally focus on his public rather than personal life with a special emphasis on the 1952-1953 investigation of his Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church ministry. General correspondence includes letters from supporters (among them Frank Porter Graham) and detractors, commenting on the investigation, Jones's sermons, and several well-publicized actions in support of social justice causes. Also included is official correspondence of the investigation and formal documentation of the proceedings, as well as scattered church newsletters, copies of a 1945 petition to remove Jones and the elders' rejection of it, and other items. His work as minister of the Community Church in Chapel Hill, N.C., is chiefly represented by financial and administrative materials, while Jones's activist role is reflected in pamphlets, official correspondence, and Fellowship of Southern Churchmen documents. Among the materials on Jones's activism are several items relating to his involvement in the 1947 "Journey of Reconciliation" (or "Freedom Ride"), including "We Challenged JIM CROW!" a pamphlet by George House and Bayard Rustin; a handwritten account of Jones's involvement; photocopies of court transcripts; and notes. Other papers consist mainly of clippings, honors accorded Jones, memorials upon his death, and materials relating to the published biography of him written by grandson Mark Pryor. The Addition of 2011 consists of reel-to-reel audiotapes of sermons and speeches by Jones and others, a speech given by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Nashville, Tenn., 28 December 1962., and several recordings of Martin Luther King Speaks, a radio program aired by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference from 1967 to the early 1980s.

Audiotapes (T-05168/1-23)