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A story about Lincoln High School is not complete without Professor A. Quinn Jones, who was one of Gainesville's most eloquent educators. Bellow is a synopsis of his private and public life by Murray Laurie, curator of the exhibition //Retrospections: Celebrating the Life and Legacy of A. Quinn Jones//.

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Introduction
A. Quinn Jones, respectfully called “Prof” by his teaching staff and students, served as the principal for three successive schools in Gainesville during his extraordinary career as an educator. In 1921, he came to Gainesville to direct the Union Academy, which was founded in 1866, and two years later moved with his entire student body, grades one through ten, to the new, brick Lincoln High School. Determined to make the premier school for African American students in Alachua County the best it could be, he advanced his goal in 1925 with Lincoln’s first full twelve-year graduating class and state accreditation the following year. Prof Jones continued to lead and direct the educational aspirations of generations of students, many of whom became educators themselves. He was the first principal of the new Lincoln High School when it opened in 1956; the original LHS became an elementary school, renamed in his honor; he retired the following year. A. Quinn Jones passed away in 1997 at the age of 104.
 * Retrospections: The Life and Legacy of A. Quinn Jones**

Frederica Jones
Frederica Williams Jones, like her husband, A. Quinn Jones, devoted her life to education, teaching English at Lincoln High School for 38 years. Mrs. Jones was an accomplished musician who also directed music programs at LHS until a full-time music teacher was assigned in the 1940s. She shared her love of music with her piano students, and with the congregation of Greater Bethel A. M. E. Church, where she played the organ for many years. Freddie, as she was called, was a founding member of the Visionaires, a social and philanthropic group affiliated with the Florida State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs. The Visionaries sponsored music programs at LHS, raised funds for the library and other school needs, mentored young women and provided scholarships for them.

Childhood
Allen Quinn Jones was born March 3, 1893, in Quincy, Florida. He was the son of Joseph T. (1841-1920) and Rosa (McDonald) Jones (1853-1932), the sixth of their seven children: Sarah, Rosa Lee, Hester, Simon Peter, Josephine, Allen Quinn, and Disney Theodore. They lived on a small farm in the Spring Hill section of Quincy. Like many children in Gadston County, Quinn, as he was called, worked in the local tobacco fields when school was out, starting at age eight as a water-boy, earning $1.25 a week. His sister Sarah was one of his teachers in the segregated black public school in Quincy, which went only to grade eight. The Jones family placed a very high value on education and encouraged their children to work hard to save money to continue their schooling.

Church
Arnett Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church was the home church of the Jones family in Quincy, and A. Quinn Jones was baptized there as an infant. One of his childhood memories was attending a Sunday School Convention in a nearby town as a delegate. When he moved to Gainesville in 1921, he and his family became active members of Bethel A. M. E. Church, which at that time was near the Union Academy. The church was relocated later. His Christian experience continued as he served for forty years as the Superintendent of the Bethel Sunday School and as a member of the Board of Trustees. A. Quinn Jones recalled spading a symbolic shovel of dirt in 1955 when the new Greater Bethel A.M.E. church was dedicated. His wife, Frederica, a gifted musician, played the organ at Greater Bethel for many years.

Education
After graduating from grade eight at Public School #1 in Quincy with high honors, A. Quinn Jones took the train to Tallahassee to complete his high school and college education at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College, earning his way by waiting tables during the school terms and working in the summer in the tobacco fields and factories near his home. He took part in many campus organizations and activities while at FAMC and graduated with a Batchelor of Science degree in 1915, with highest honors and as the president of his class.

A. Quinn Jones continued to study as he pursued his career as a teacher and earned two masters degrees, one in 1920 from Oskaloosa College in Iowa and one in 1935 from Hampton Institute, Hampton VA. He worked for years, during the summer, toward a Ph.D. in the School of Education at New York University and came close to this goal when, after 1947, his position as principal became a full-time one and he was no longer free to spend the summer months pursuing his doctoral degree.

Family
The world of education continued to frame the family life of A. Quinn Jones as he married and became the father of four children. While he was serving as the principal of a school in Pensacola at the beginning of his career, he married fellow teacher, Agnes Marion Smith. Their children, A. Quinn, Jr., Oliver, Lydia, and Vera would all grow up to become educators; both sons followed their father’s example and became principals. Mrs. Agnes Jones, who taught elementary classes and music at LHS, passed away in 1928. Prof Jones married Frederica Williams, who was also a teacher at Lincoln High School and a talented pianist, in 1937. The Jones family home, across the street from LHC, still stands and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Career
After graduation from FAMC in 1915, A. Quinn Jones secured his first teaching position in a one-room school near Quincy. He taught in rural schools in Gadsden, Liberty, and Jackson counties for two years, at a time when terms in schools for black children were as short as three to four months and teachers moved from school to school as positions opened. In the fall of 1917, Jones moved to Escambia County to become the principal of an elementary school, later serving as assistant principal to the black high school in Pensacola.

In 1921, A. Quinn Jones was recruited by the trustees of the Union Academy in Gainesville, who were seeking a “ real red-blooded man for the principalship.” They had turned to FAMC President Nathan Young, who recommended Jones for the position. The Union Academy, which was organized in 1866, was one of the most highly regarded black public schools in Florida. But the overcrowded, two-story frame building was due to be replaced by a new school, and Gainesville’s African American community wanted a man who would energize and advance the educational progress of their children.

Legacy
During his long life, A. Quinn Jones served as an inspiration to his own family, continuing the legacy of his parents and his sisters and brothers. His four children and their children have earned advanced degrees in law, pharmacy, dentistry, business, education, and theater. Several followed him into the field of education, working as teachers, librarians, principals and supervisors.

His legacy extends to the thousands of students who came under his inspiring direction and leadership. He was quick to identify those who would work hard to follow his example and seek higher education, and he nurtured their ambitions with his personal interest. While segregation prevailed during all of his years as principal, he sought opportunities to broaden the horizons of his teaching staff and students, even teaching college courses each summer to help them earn higher degrees and teacher certification. Building on the tradition of preparing teachers for local schools, which was one of the earliest post-Civil War missions of the Union Academy, Lincoln High School continued to offer a teacher training curriculum for some years.

Under the leadership of A. Quinn Jones, Lincoln High School became the pride of Gainesville’s black community. Nurtured by caring elementary school teachers who knew all their students’ families and encouraged by inspiring high school teachers who served as role models, LHS was the social and athletic hub of Gainesville African Americans. They turned out for parades and ball games, cheered the Terrier teams, attended school musical events and graduation ceremonies, supported fund-raising appeals, and some even provided homes for students from rural areas who boarded during the week in order to attend high school.