Reparations for slavery?

Ms. Jo Ann Bradley Jones will be guest preacher at both the 8 AM and 10 AM Martin Luther King Day services of The Episcopal Church of St. Paul, Chatham, on Sunday, January 14.

Ms. Jones will be part of a weekend long awareness program about racism which begins with a viewing, free and open to the public, of the powerful documentary film, TRACES OF THE TRADE, which follows the DeWolfe family's discovery of the history of their participation in the slave trade.


The film will be shown in the Sanctuary on Friday, the 12th from 7:30 - 9 PM. A discussion of the film will follow on Saturday, January 13th, from 9:30 - 11 AM.



On Sunday, January 14 at 9 AM, Ms. Bradley Jones will be joined by members of the Diocese of Newark's Commission on Reparations, which studied the controversial topic of reparations for slavery.



Everyone is invited to attend these important events. Please note that admission to the viewing of TRACES OF THE TRADE is free of charge.



Born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, Ms. Jones was baptized and confirmed at St. James. She was one of the first African Americans to be admitted to Baltimore Friends School, from which she graduated in 1969. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Swarthmore College in 1973 and her J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1976.



Her first professional position was with the Office of Area (later Regional) Counsel of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in Philadelphia. She served that agency for ten years before joining the firm of Pohoryles and Greenstein in Washington, D.C. She returned to Philadelphia, taking a position in the Law Department and then became the General Counsel of the Philadelphia Housing Authority and later the District of Columbia Housing Authority. She served as Assistant General Counsel for Drexel University. Having served on the boards of several non-profits Ms. Jones served briefly as the Executive Director of MANNA, an organization that provides nutrition to persons living with HIV/AIDS. She now is the senior consultant with Paradigm Group Consultants.



An active layperson, Ms Jones has served the Diocese of Pennsylvania as a Church Attorney and member of the Search Committee for the Bishop Coadjutor. She is a member of the Diocesan Committee on Resolutions. She has been an alternate Lay Deputy to General Convention (1997) and Deputy to General Convention (2000, 2003 and 2006). This past year she was Chair from the House of Deputies for the Committee on Social and Urban Affairs. She is a member of the Standing Commission on Structure of the Church. A member of The African Episcopal Church of Saint Thomas, Ms Jones has served on the Vestry, and is active in the Altar Guild, Daughters of the King, lay reader, Chancel and Gospel choirs and chaired the Search Committee for a new rector.


Other volunteer activities include membership on the Boards of Planned Parenthood Southeastern Pennsylvania and Awbury Arboretum and Our Garden Club of Philadelphia. She enjoys reading, cooking, gardening and bridge. Ms. Jones lives in the Germantown section of Philadelphia with her dog, Jake.