[2] Her family "had a history of operating small businesses"[3] and valued education; her mother had earned a PhD.
[2] One of two daughters, she grew up in Salisbury, where she worked in the family-owned Lash’s Self Service Grocery and attended Price High School.
[2] She earned a graduate degree (1979) and a doctorate in American studies (1983) at Case Western Reserve University.
[2] Much of Jones' academic publishing was on Black women in the YWCA, exploring the history of inclusion, segregation, and racism within the organization.
The couple moved to Cleveland in 1958, and L. Morris Jones started a medical practice in the Hough neighborhood.