Editing Scipio Africanus Jones (section)

==Political life==
Jones joined the Republican Party and unsuccessfully ran for [[Arkansas House of Representatives|state representative]] in 1892. He was a delegate to the [[Republican National Convention]] several times. In 1891, the Democratic-controlled [[Arkansas General Assembly]] passed a new election law making voting more complicated and eliminating numerous illiterate voters; together with a [[poll tax]] amendment passed in 1892, these measures [[Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era|disenfranchised many African Americans]] in the state and many poor white people. The Republican Party offered Jones the positions of Recorder of Deeds in the [[Washington, DC|District of Columbia]] and Ambassador to the [[Republic of Haiti]], but he declined both appointments to concentrate on local affairs.

The Republican Party in the state suffered a substantial loss in voters due to the disfranchisement measures. Jones became involved in the struggle between the [[Lily Whites]] and the [[black-and-tan faction|Black and Tans]] within the [[United States Republican Party|Republican Party]]. In 1902, Jones helped organize a slate of black Republicans to challenge the Lily Whites and Democrats in the city of Little Rock general election. The struggle reached a breaking point in 1920, when African American community nominated J.H. Blount, an African American candidate, for Governor for the first time. In that year, Jones was selected as the Black and Tan contender for the Arkansas Republican National Committee. Four years later, Jones, J. H. Blount, N. R. Parker and J. Hibbler helped organize a Black and Tan protest meeting in Little Rock in which a list of demands for equal political treatment was presented to the Lily Whites. Eventually, a compromise was reached that guaranteed black representation on the Republican State Central Committee.