Stephen Richardson

When Laurence Jones learned about the 80% illiteracy rate of Rankin County, he started Piney Woods School with just $2 and 3 students at an abandoned sheep shed. In 1918, he not only survived a near-lynching, he also persuaded the mob into collecting money to support his school. —Laurence C. Jones was born into a Missouri family of educators in 1884. He completed his studies at the University of Iowa in 1908. Laurence received many job offers after graduating but would ultimately find himself in Rankin County, Mississippi, in 1909. During slavery, it was illegal to teach enslaved Africans to read and write. Therefore, Rankin County had an illiteracy rate approaching 80%. Mr. Jones settled in the county and began teaching three students. The number of students increased, and with land donated by a former “freed”slave and support from several white-owned Iowa businesses, Piney Wood School would receive its charter in 1913. Mr. Jones had also established a friendship with prominent Iowan, Captain ASA Turner. Captain Turner, abolitionist, and civil war veteran, would donate a significant amount of his time and wealth to support the school, ultimately serving on the school’s board of trustees. In 1918, for whatever reason, the residents had had enough of Mr. Jones and sought to hang him. Laurence was also an oratory master. He not only convinced the mob not to lynch him but solicited funds from the rabble for his school. Later, Mr. Jones is quoted: “No man can cause me to stoop low enough that him.” Today, Piney Woods School is the largest of four historically Black American boarding schools, educating youth from grades 9-12.—

RIP T. Marshall Kelly. 🙏🏽

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