Solomon Sir Jones

Solomon Sir Jones (1869-1936) was an American minister and amateur film-maker, best known for his collection of 29 silent black-and-white films (totaling 355 minutes worth of footage) documenting African-American communities in Oklahoma from 1924 to 1928.^[1] In 2016, Jones' films were selected for the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".^[2]

Films

Solomon Sir Jones films consists of 29 silent black-and-white films documenting African-American communities in Oklahoma from 1924 to 1928. They contain 355 minutes of footage shot with then-new 16-mm cameras. The films document a rich tapestry of everyday life: funerals, sporting events, schools, parades, businesses, Masonic meetings, river baptisms, families at home, African-American oil barons and their wells, black colleges, Juneteenth celebrations and a transcontinental footrace.^[3] Jones' films have been preserved by the Smithsonian Institution, the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library of the Yale University Library, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture. They are considered to be “the most extensive film records we have of Southern and urban black life and culture at the time of rapid social and cultural change for African-Americans during the 1920s, the very beginning of the Great Migration, which transformed not only black people as a whole, but America itself.”^[3]

Personal life

In addition to his work with film, Jones was a businessman and a Baptist minister, who either established or was the pastor of some 15 churches in his lifetime.^[1] He was the son of ex-slaves, was born in Tennessee and grew up in the South, before moving to Oklahoma, where he lived for most of his life.^[1] Jones was well-traveled, travelling across not only the United States, but also overseas to France, England, Palestine, Switzerland, Italy, North Africa, and Germany, filming his travels along the way.^[1]

References