Jones portrait bill gets OK in House

WASHINGTON — The Scipio Jones Post Office Portrait Act passed in the House on Wednesday.

The measure, sponsored by U.S. Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., would authorize the post office to “accept and display a portrait” of the trailblazing black attorney at the Little Rock location bearing his name.

U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., filed a similar measure in the Senate last month.

Scipio Africanus Jones, born a slave in 1863, went on to become one of the state’s most famous attorneys.

After the 1919 Elaine Massacre, in which white mobs killed large numbers of blacks, he successfully defended 12 black men who had been rounded up, charged with murder and summarily condemned by white jurors.

With his clients facing execution, he fought their convictions in state and federal courts, joining forces with the NAACP along the way.

Eventually, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed that the men had been denied a fair trial. Their lives were ultimately spared.

In 2007, then-U.S. Rep. Vic Snyder, a Democrat from Little Rock, sponsored legislation naming the Main Street post office in Jones’ honor.

Today, a plaque at the building bears his name.

Hill’s legislation would allow a portrait to be placed there, as well.

“The Elaine Massacre left a profound impact on the soul of our state that can be felt a century later,” the lawmaker from Little Rock told his colleagues in a floor speech Wednesday. “We have an opportunity today with this legislation to write a new chapter in Arkansas history that recognizes the legacy of the tragedy, honors the victims and seeks to heal long-standing wounds.”