Eugene Kinckle Jones

Eugene Kinckle Jones (July 30, 1885 – January 11, 1954) was a leader of the National Urban League and one of the seven founders (commonly referred to as Seven Jewels) of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity at Cornell University in 1906. Jones became Alpha chapter's second President. Early life Jones was born in Richmond, Virginia to Joseph Endom Jones and Rosa Daniel Kinckle. He graduated from Richmond's Virginia Union University in 1905 and Cornell University with a master's degree in 1908. In 1909, he married Blanche Ruby Watson, and they had two children. After graduation, he taught high school in Louisville, Kentucky until 1911. Alpha Phi Alpha Jones organized the first three Fraternity chapters that branched out from Cornell: Beta at Howard University, Gamma at Virginia Union University and the original Delta chapter at the University of Toronto in Canada (now designated at Huston–Tillotson University). Jones was a member of the first Committees on Constitution and Organization and helped write the Fraternity ritual. Jones also has the distinction of being one of the first initiates as well as an original founder. Jones' status as a founder was not finally established until 1952.