Reginald Jones
Reginald Jones
(1931-2005)
Jones was born in Clearwater, Florida on January 21, 1931 to his mother, Naomi Henry, a homemaker, and his father, Moses Jones, a musician. His parents were never married and he had a younger half-brother and half-sister, both of whom were the children of his mother and stepfather.
During his childhood, Florida was still racially segregated and experiences with discrimination were common. Nevertheless, Jones grew up with a supportive community of neighbors and family members. Jones and his family were avid readers of two Black newspapers, the Pittsburgh Courier and the Miami Times. He grew up surrounded by frequent discussions on race, racial differences, and the accomplishments of notable Black figures. Jones also recalls spending summers visiting Pennsylvania, where his father would fervently introduce him to all kinds of people as an attempt to educate him in the "ways of the world." His exposure to diverse issues of race and humanity would go on to inform his career and professional interests.
Jones was married twice. He first married to Johnette Turner, an artist he met at Ohio State University, and had three daughters with her. In 1988, he married his second wife, Michele Woods, and was the stepfather to her two children.
Jones grew up attending a Black public elementary school and went to Booker T. Washington High School. He enrolled in Morehouse College in 1948 for his undergraduate education, intending to major in chemistry. However, after a semester of chemistry courses, Jones discovered his interest and talent for psychology. Evelyn Barnett was the only Psychology professor at Morehouse and was one of Jones's first influencers in his psychology career. Jones was also able to take several off-campus courses at Spelman College, Atlanta University, and Clark College.
In 1952, he received his Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Morehouse. Afterwards he enrolled for the graduate clinical psychology program at Wayne University and completed his thesis on ethnocentrism within White individuals. After completing his MA, in 1954, he was drafted into the U.S. Army as a clinical psychologist.
During his two years in the army, Jones was stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky and Bad Cannstatt, Germany. Jones then enrolled in the doctoral program in the Department of Psychology and Educational Psychology at Ohio State University. He was advised by John Horrocks, a developmental psychologist. Jones attributes his expertise to the program's comprehensiveness and breadth, which allowed him to apply psychological principles to his more specialized research in Black psychology and special education. He received his Ph.D in psychology from Ohio State University in 1959.
Jones was employed at 9 different higher education institutions during his 33-year academic career. Immediately after receiving his Ph.D, he chose to accept a Research Assistant Professor position at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. In 1963, he moved to Fisk University in Nashville to become an Assistant Professor of Psychology. He stayed for a year and advises the master's theses of William Hayes, Moses Johnson, and Angela Owens. He had a brief summer appointment with Indiana University before moving to UCLA in 1964 as an Assistant Professor of Education. There, Jones worked with Frank M. Hewett to develop a Ph.D program in special education. Until then, there was no doctoral program in special education at any of the University of California campuses. Jones helped develop and teach courses in areas of gifted and retarded education, recruit faculty for the program, and form partnerships with California State University, Los Angeles. In 1966, he returned to Ohio State University as an Associate Professor of Psychology. After just two years, he was promoted to full professorship with tenure and was also appointed to Vice Chair for Staff Development. Jones then accepted professorship at University of California, Riverside in their new School of Education. He was a faculty member for two years before becoming the Department Chair. In 1971, Jones moved his career abroad to become Director of the University Testing Center at Halle Sellassie I University in Ethiopia. He spent his two years there mostly responsible for developing admissions tests to the university. He then accepted a position as Professor of African American Studies and Education at the University of California, Berkeley where he spent 17 years - the longest he spent at any one university. In addition to being a professor, he eventually held other academic and administrative positions at UC Berkeley. Finally, he left UC Berkeley in 1991 and Jones ended his career at Hampton University as a Department Chair and Professor of Psychology. He stayed at Hampton until 2001 when he decided to retire.
Jones's primary research interests were the education of exceptional children and the psychology of African Americans. His extensive experience at numerous universities helped lay the groundwork for both fields. Apart from his career as a professor, Jones was also one of the founding members of the Association of Black Psychologists and the Association's president from 1971 to 1972. As a leader in establishing Black psychology, Jones was active in pushing the American Psychological Association to provide more support for Black students, faculty, and the community at large. He was highly successful in receiving grants to support minority students and special education research. Jones also contributed to the public sector by being part of President-elect Bill Clinton's Council of Advisors's Education Transition Team, and President Nixon's Task Force on Mental Health.