By Jheri Hardaway
Staff Writer
In a city defined by consistent growth, continually named a best place to move and to do business, the remarkable memory of Raleigh natives like Mattie Evans Jones is a priceless anchor to Raleigh's profound past. Born in June of 1922, Mrs. Jones, a cherished matriarch and a lifelong Raleigh resident, recently shared a glimpse into her extraordinary 103 years, a journey that spans the Great Depression, the Jim Crow era, the ascent of the Civil Rights movement, technology booms, all the way up to today. As a journalist for The Carolinian News and a lover of history, I was captivated by her vivid recall, enduring and encouraging spirit, but above all her excitement when talking about people she has met and her dedication to education.
Mrs. Jones’s early Raleigh was a world away from the capital city we know today. "It was like the country," she recalls, where "everybody knew everybody else." Economic hardship defined her early life; during the Depression, "people didn't have much money," with men often earning about a dollar a day. Yet, the cost of living was so incredibly low that "You could go to the store with the dollar and have so many groceries that you hardly carry back home." A core part of life was exercise. Because cars were a rarity, mobility was a testament to one’s physical fitness. Mrs. Jones remembers trekking 10 blocks from her home on Edenton Street and Alston Avenue to St. Augustine’s College, a walk she did routinely. Her simple prescription for the long life Raleighites enjoyed then? "Everybody was fit."
Mrs. Jones, an avid reader, began her educational journey at St. Monica's. Built in 1930 by the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh, St. Monica's was established for African American students during a time when city schools were still segregated. Led by nuns, this small building, characterized by its spare Gothic detailing, contained four classrooms that accommodated eight elementary grades. With a strong foundation she continued on to Washington Highschool, this was the first public high school for African Americans in Raleigh and continued as the only such school until 1953. Mrs. Jones noted that the African American teachers took personal interest in her success. The building is an example of the Jacobean style popular for school buildings in the 1920s, the school now houses the Washington Gifted and Talented Elementary Magnet School of the Wake County Public School System. Upon high school graduation Mrs. Jones enrolled at St. Augustine’s College, now St. Augustine’s University. Tuition was around $65 a year, and the school offered students a rare chance to make payments over time. As long as they paid by graduation. Originally drawn to Mathematics, Ms. Jones switched her focus due to the discouraging advice of friends. However, she found her calling in History, graduating Cum Laude in 1944. Her experience was profoundly shaped by the legendary historian Dr. John Hope Franklin. As a young man teaching at St. Augustine’s, Dr. Franklin inspired a generation. Mrs. Jones describes him as "so smart" and "just full of life," never needing to rely on notes. Crucially, Dr. Franklin taught Black History, a subject deliberately excluded from the curriculum of the time. Mrs. Jones daughter Karen Haynes shared, "Mama said she learned more from Dr. Franklin that year than all her years in school," a profound testament to the power of seeing one’s own people in the historical narrative.
Post-graduation, Mrs. Jones briefly taught at an all-black boarding school in Southern Pines, a fascinating institution that provided education to children brought down to NC from "the sidewalks of New York," a noble effort to lift youth out of challenging environments.
Mrs. Jones’s memories shine a light on the stark realities of Jim Crow in Raleigh. Black residents, though taxpayers, were excluded from the city’s public library. This was particular difficult for Mrs. Jones who still reads a book per week. This critical gap was filled by the pioneering work of Molly Lee, who established the first library for black people on Hargett Street, later named the Richard B. Harrison Library. Similarly, dining out was a humiliating experience. "No public restaurants would accept black people," she states. If service was offered at all, it came "through a hole in the wall" at the back of the building. Ms. Jones was an eyewitness to the transformative power of the sit-in movement, which finally broke the barrier at lunch counters across the South.
Perhaps one of the most chilling recollections is the struggle to secure the deed to her current home, a property where she has lived for an incredible 77 years. The house itself came from a community built for Civil War veterans. When Mrs. Jones and her late husband, John O. Jones Sr, sought to secure the title for the fully-paid-off home in the late 1950s or early 1960s, the white landowner, Mr. Prevost, initially refused to sign the papers over to a black family. It took a second, legally-backed visit, during which Mr. Prevost own son intervened, for the man to finally follow the law and sign the papers. The moment, as relayed by her daughter, was memorable the man literally cried as he signed the land over to the Black family who had paid in full. Through a City of Raleigh grant program the house was recently beautifully remolded demonstrating again the evolution of the city.
For over 50 years, Ms. Jones has been a pillar of her church community, teaching Sunday school in the cradle department at First Baptist Church, a congregation that has seen four generations of her family as members. The church itself made history, as it was reportedly the first black church in America to acquire a church bus pictured here from the church archives. Today, Mrs. Jones is the radiant matriarch of a five-generation family: 6 children, 14 grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren, and 7 great-great-grandchildren—a blessing of 41 descendants and counting. Her advice for those wishing to make it to 103 is simple and profound, first, she does not smoke or drink. Two, exercise, she still rides a stationary bike for 12 to 15 minutes a day. Finally, an avid reader, she is now supplied with large-print books from the state through a program for the blind.
Her greatest gifts, her family, her memory, and her love of story persist. Among her favorite authors, she named James Weldon Johnson, and she concluded our interview by reciting his monumental poem, "The Creation," from memory—a stirring performance that made me so proud to be in her presence, she is a powerful reminder of our deep and rich impact. Mrs. Maddie Evans Jones is not just a Raleigh resident; she is a living archive, and her story is a blueprint for a life well-lived.
