Martha S Jones
Biographic Data
| ID | 3846483 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Martha S Jones |
| GIVEN NAMES | Martha S |
| FAMILY NAME | Jones |
| SIGNATURE | JONES M S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Michigan |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7111-6017 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 14 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 10 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Lessons From My Grandfather's FBI File
In spring 2024, I received, via a Freedom of Information Act request, my grandfather's FBI file. From the 1920s through the 1950s, he served as president of a historically Black college, Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina. He had worked in the face of twin threats: Jim Crow and the Red Scare. Surveillance and scrutiny threatened his career and the well-being of his campus, and I returned to his times searching for lessons for our own. …
Interchange
Birthright citizens
Before the Civil War, colonization schemes and Black laws threatened to deport former slaves born in United States. Birthright Citizens recovers the story of how African American activists remade national belonging through battles in legislatures, conventions, and courthouses. They faced formidable opposition, most notoriously from the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dred Scott. Still, Martha S. Jones explains, no single case defined their status.…
First the Streets, Then the Archives
Our work as legal historians is to explore those sites where history’s unspeakable, inexpressible past still lives. This essay follows the suggestion of Joseph Roach to go beyond the archives to “spend more time in the streets.” This essay asks how to explain the fact of homeless people living in the shadows of New York City’s Housing Court. We might cringe, furrow our brows, and avert our gazes from the homeless encampment. Or, we might pause to…
Marin et citoyen
Les hommes de couleur libres ont utilisé l'engagement sur les navires des États-Unis pour se doter de droits dont ils ne disposaient pas hors de ces situations. Cela a été notamment le cas pour les libres de couleur de Baltimore. Après avoir exposé la situation de la communauté des hommes et des femmes noirs libres de cette ville, cet article évoquera les expériences juridiques diversifiées que le futur leader noir George Hackett eut l'occasion d…
Historians’ Forum
Historians’ ForumThe Emancipation Proclamation Martha S. Jones, Kate Masur, Louis Masur, James Oakes, and Manisha Sinha THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION By the President of the United States of America: A Proclamation. Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit: …
Encountering Revolution
Time, Space, and Jurisdiction in Atlantic World Slavery
The widow Drouillard de Volunbrun and her household boarded the brig Mary & Elizabeth in November 1796, only after many failed attempts to leave the French colony of Saint-Domingue. Like many others, they sought refuge from the violence and deprivation of the Haitian Revolution. In the party were the widow, her mother, a male companion, Marie Alphonse Cléry and, at best count, twenty enslaved people. Catastrophe struck November 18 when the Mary &…
Pass·ed Performances
Mining Our Collective Memory
Time, Space, and Jurisdiction in Atlantic World Slavery
The widow Drouillard de Volunbrun and her household boarded the brig Mary & Elizabeth in November 1796, only after many failed attempts to leave the French colony of Saint-Domingue. Like many others, they sought refuge from the violence and deprivation of the Haitian Revolution. In the party were the widow, her mother, a male companion, Marie Alphonse Cléry and, at best count, twenty enslaved people. Catastrophe struck November 18 when the Mary &…
Pass·ed Performances
Historians’ Forum
Historians’ ForumThe Emancipation Proclamation Martha S. Jones, Kate Masur, Louis Masur, James Oakes, and Manisha Sinha THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION By the President of the United States of America: A Proclamation. Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit: …
Mining Our Collective Memory
Pass·ed Performances
Time, Space, and Jurisdiction in Atlantic World Slavery
The widow Drouillard de Volunbrun and her household boarded the brig Mary & Elizabeth in November 1796, only after many failed attempts to leave the French colony of Saint-Domingue. Like many others, they sought refuge from the violence and deprivation of the Haitian Revolution. In the party were the widow, her mother, a male companion, Marie Alphonse Cléry and, at best count, twenty enslaved people. Catastrophe struck November 18 when the Mary &…
Encountering Revolution
Historians’ Forum
Historians’ ForumThe Emancipation Proclamation Martha S. Jones, Kate Masur, Louis Masur, James Oakes, and Manisha Sinha THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION By the President of the United States of America: A Proclamation. Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit: …
Marin et citoyen
Les hommes de couleur libres ont utilisé l'engagement sur les navires des États-Unis pour se doter de droits dont ils ne disposaient pas hors de ces situations. Cela a été notamment le cas pour les libres de couleur de Baltimore. Après avoir exposé la situation de la communauté des hommes et des femmes noirs libres de cette ville, cet article évoquera les expériences juridiques diversifiées que le futur leader noir George Hackett eut l'occasion d…
First the Streets, Then the Archives
Our work as legal historians is to explore those sites where history’s unspeakable, inexpressible past still lives. This essay follows the suggestion of Joseph Roach to go beyond the archives to “spend more time in the streets.” This essay asks how to explain the fact of homeless people living in the shadows of New York City’s Housing Court. We might cringe, furrow our brows, and avert our gazes from the homeless encampment. Or, we might pause to…
Birthright citizens
Before the Civil War, colonization schemes and Black laws threatened to deport former slaves born in United States. Birthright Citizens recovers the story of how African American activists remade national belonging through battles in legislatures, conventions, and courthouses. They faced formidable opposition, most notoriously from the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dred Scott. Still, Martha S. Jones explains, no single case defined their status.…
Interchange
Lessons From My Grandfather's FBI File
In spring 2024, I received, via a Freedom of Information Act request, my grandfather's FBI file. From the 1920s through the 1950s, he served as president of a historically Black college, Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina. He had worked in the face of twin threats: Jim Crow and the Red Scare. Surveillance and scrutiny threatened his career and the well-being of his campus, and I returned to his times searching for lessons for our own. …
Political science (7 works) · Law (5 works) · History (4 works) · History (4 works) · Colonialism, slavery, and trade (3 works) · Cuban History and Society (3 works) · Law (3 works) · Politics (3 works) · Sociology (3 works) · American Constitutional Law and Politics (2 works)