HISTORY
Rocky Mount native Ruth Braswell Jones, was born on November 25, 1914 to William Braswell (ca. 1880-1926), a carpenter from Edgecombe County and son of Mr. Levy Braswell and Georgianna Jones, North Carolina, and Arkaanna Sanders Braswell Taft (1880-1964), of Johnston County, North Carolina, daughter of Mr. Allen Sanders and Susan Sanders. Ruth was the seventh of nine siblings, including her sisters Mrs. Willie Blanche Braswell Weathers (1902-1977), Mattie Lee Braswell Tyson (1904-1973), Thelma Louise “Sweetie” Braswell Horne (1906-1981), Susie May Braswell Farmer (1909-1993), Dorothy Braswell Forrest (1910-1975), Josephine Lenora Braswell (1912-2001), DeLon Braswell Reese (1917-1990), and Frances Yvette Braswell Robinson (1930-1975).
Ruth was instilled with a love for education at an early age, likely due to her mother, Arkaanna, an educator who attended Shaw University, Bricks Junior College, and Elizabeth City State University, and served as principal of schools in Edgecombe, Nash, and Pitt counties, North Carolina for over forty years. Ruth was an honors graduate of Booker T. Washington High School. Following in her mother’s footsteps, she also attended Brick Junior College, and Elizabeth City State University, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude. Ruth did her post-graduate work at North Carolina A&T State University (Greensboro), from which she earned her Masters of Education, and was inducted into the Theta Tau Chapter of the Kappa Delta Pi Honor Society. She married WWII Veteran Mr. Eddie James Jones of Halifax County in 1944.
Ruth’s career as an elementary school teacher spanned over four decades. She taught for twenty-nine years in the Halifax County school system, including the Brawley School in Scotland Neck, and for eighteen years in Edgecombe County, North Carolina. While in Halifax, she was elected Secretary of the Classroom Teachers Division of the North Carolina Teachers Association in 1955 and served as Secretary of the Halifax chapter of the Elizabeth City Teachers College Alumni Association.
Due to her long dedication to teaching, Ruth Braswell was the recipient of multiple awards. In 1970, she was voted “Woman of the Year,” by the Business and Professional Woman’s Club. In 1972, she was the first African American recipient of the Terry Sanford Award for Creativity in Education. Other awards followed that year, where Ruth was named the “Outstanding Negro Woman,” by the Daughters of Isis, “Woman of the Year,” by Betheletes, and a Distinguished Alumnus of Elizabeth City State University. In 1974, she was named “Citizen of the Year,” by Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. Ruth Braswell was featured in “Who’s Who Among Black Americans” (1975-1976 edition), “Who’s Who Among Bicentennial Notables” (1976) and inducted into the National Education Association’s Woman’s Hall of Fame in 1976. As of 1971, Ruth was the only woman in North Carolina to be elected President of two state education associations, the North Carolina Association of Educators, and the North Carolina Teachers Association.
Ruth Braswell Jones was a charter member of Metropolitan Baptist Church, along with her sister, Ms. Josephine Lenora Braswell, and was affiliated with the following organizations: the American Association of Unity Women, Brown-Pearson Federated Club, the NAACP, the National Education Association, the North Carolina Association of Educators, the North Carolina Association of Classroom Teachers, the Order of the Eastern Star, and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority.
Ruth Braswell Jones retired from teaching in 1980. She was noted as the “First Lady of Education,” who inspired hundreds of children in Edgecombe and Halifax counties, North Carolina to pursue their dreams. Ruth Braswell Jones passed away on July 6, 2001, and was laid to rest in Unity Cemetery (est. 1901), by Stokes Mortuary, Inc.