[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 53 (Thursday, March 24, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E289-E290]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        REMEMBERING MARVIS JONES, ONE OF THE MEMPHIS STATE EIGHT

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                            HON. STEVE COHEN

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 24, 2022

  Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to remember Marvis LaVerne 
Kneeland Jones, a renowned Memphis educator and one of the courageous 
Memphis State Eight who integrated then-Memphis State University in 
1959 following the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Brown v. Board of 
Education ruling (1954) declaring segregation of public schools 
unconstitutional. Mrs. Jones was born in Chicago in 1941 and was raised 
in Memphis where she graduated from Hamilton High School. She obtained 
a master's degree from what is now the University of Memphis and taught 
in the Memphis City Schools for 25 years. As a civil rights 
trailblazer, her heroic integration of Memphis State opened the doors 
of opportunity to thousands. In 2006, the University honored the 
Memphis State Eight by recognizing their pioneering work desegregating 
the campus, and Mrs. Jones was among the remaining five who returned to 
the University in 2019 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of their 
achievement. Mrs. Jones was a marvelous singer and piano player and 
tickled the ivories to the delight of audiences. She was married

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to the late state Representative Rufus Jones for 57 years, helping at 
the Rufus Jones Big Star grocery store at College and McLemore and on 
his political campaigns. She loved her children and saw them earn 
significant advanced degrees, and guided her talented grandchildren who 
called her ``Granna.'' I extend my condolences to Mrs. Jones' four 
children--Dr. Gladys A. Jones, Rufus E. Jones Jr., Dr. Ida L. Jones 
Pittman, and Dorothy D. Jones--and to her many friends, colleagues and 
admirers.

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