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Biography · Politics & Public Life

Cornelius J. Jones

1858–1931

United States

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Biography

Cornelius J. Jones (August 13, 1858 – March 13, 1931) was an African-American attorney, activist and politician who was active in Mississippi, Indian Territory, Oklahoma, and Tennessee between approximately 1880 and 1931. In the 1890s, Jones became one of the first African-American attorneys to argue before the United States Supreme Court. Beginning in 1915, he participated in the movement to reclaim revenue from taxes collected on slave-grown cotton during the Civil War for formerly-enslaved cotton workers and their descendants.

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Black heritage reference ↗

Biography text · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source checked 2026-10-13

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