Page:The Afro-American Press.djvu/174

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
166
THE AFRO-AMERICAN PRESS.

Lynchburg being teacher. To this our subject was sent. Not having considered, heretofore, the advantages a good education would afford, he was now led to see how unsatisfactory his present attainments were, and became eager to improve. Afterward, on entering the school of James M. Gregory, now dean of the College Department of Howard University, he began to recognize more fully what it was to be learned in the science of letters; therefore he made rapid progress, and was regarded as one of the best pupils in the school.

In the spring of 1868 he was baptized, and connected himself with the Court Street Baptist church of his city. In October of '68 he entered the Richmond Institute, at Richmond, Va., for the purpose of pursuing a theological course, having a desire to propagate Scriptural truth. He completed the academic and theological course in three years; after which, he left Virginia, and entered the Madison University at Hamilton, New York, in 1871. In 1876 he graduated from the collegiate department. The same year he was appointed by the American Baptist Home Missionary Society to a professorship in the Richmond Institute, now Richmond Theological Seminary, which position he still holds, filling the chairs of Homiletics and Greek. The degrees of A. M. and D. D. have been conferred upon him by his Alma Mater, and by Selma (Ala.) University, respectively. It can thus be readily seen, that as a student of theology and science he is eminently qualified for the trusts committed to him.

No one has been more active in securing for his people, by word and pen, their rights, than Prof. Jones. While his journalistic life has not been as extensive as that of training the Afro-American for "Theologs," he has had a wonderful career in this field, which should by no means be overlooked. His career in newspaperdom begins with his editorial work as a member upon the staff of The Baptist Companion. This