Background
Robert E. Jones was born on February 19, 1872 in Greensboro, North Carolina.
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Robert Jones
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Along with Matthew Wesley Clair, Jones was one of the first African-American Bishops of the Mechanical Engineering Church.
Career
However, they were elected on separate ballots and presided over all-black churches. He helped found a Methodist retreat, Gulfside Assembly, in Waveland, Mississippi for African-Americans. Gulfside Assembly was the only place in the United States where African-Americans had access to the Gulf of Mexico for vacationing and recreational purposes.
Unfortunately, because of strong opposition in the South, the Church decided instead to create a separate jurisdiction for blacks, called the Central Jurisdiction.
The first General Conference of the new Central Jurisdiction met in Saint Louis, Missouri from June 18 to 23, 1940. Bishop Jones died on May 18, 1960 and was buried at Gulfside Assembly.
The Methodists would not begin formal integration of the black and white churches until the mid-1960s. By 1972, all of the Conferences of the Central Jurisdiction had been merged into white Conferences.
