Pearl Johnson Jones
(1903–1983)

Pearl Johnson Jones was born on July 2, 1903, in Clarke County, Alabama, the daughter of Lillie Johnson and granddaughter of Essex and Mary Thomas of Suggsville. By the 1900 census, her mother Lillie was already navigating life as a divorced woman raising three children in her parents’ household. Pearl grew up in a blended family, eventually surrounded by several half-siblings, nieces, and nephews, in a home that valued education and resilience despite hardship.

By 1920, at the age of sixteen, Pearl was living with her mother, grandmother, and siblings on a farm in Jackson, Alabama. She attended school and could read and write, a reflection of her family’s determination to secure education for their children during a period when opportunities for African Americans in the Deep South were severely limited.

Pearl married Frank McKinley Jones in Jackson, Alabama, in the early 1920s. Together they had two sons: McKinley Jones, Sr. (born 1923) and Calvin Jones (born 1928). Their marriage, however, did not last. By 1940, Pearl was working as a cook in a private home and listed by census takers as the common-law wife of Robert Jenkins, a 24-year-old laborer at the Veneer Mill in Jackson. She was living next door to her sister, Daisy Lee, and Daisy’s husband, Jerry Campbell, who also worked at the Veneer Mill. Given that Pearl was 33 years old at the time, it is possible the census takers misidentified her living arrangement with Robert as a marital relationship rather than as roommates, especially considering her proximity to family and the instability she was already navigating.

By 1950, Pearl was living in Prichard, Mobile County, at 301 Garrison Avenue. She was recorded as separated from her husband and working as a maid in a private home, laboring forty hours each week. At that time, she resided in the household of her eldest son, McKinley Sr., alongside his wife Lena and their infant son McKinley Jr. This arrangement reflected both her separation and her reliance on family networks for support, while also underscoring her ongoing role as a provider and stabilizing presence within her family.

Pearl remained active in her faith as a member of Holmes Street Baptist Church in Prichard, Alabama, where she found fellowship and strength. Over the years, she endured the loss of several siblings and her mother, Lillie, in 1956. Despite these losses, she continued to build a legacy of resilience for her children and grandchildren.

She passed away on March 26, 1983, in Mobile County, Alabama, at the age of 79. Pearl’s life was marked by perseverance, adaptability, and devotion to her family. Though she faced the difficulties of divorce, separation, and economic challenge, she remained steadfast in creating opportunities and stability for her children. Today, her legacy continues through her descendants, who carry forward her story of strength, faith, and survival in Alabama’s African American community.