Laurence Clifton Jones (November 21, 1882 – July 13, 1975),[1] was the founder and long-time president of Piney Woods Country Life School in Rankin County, Mississippi.

It was when he learned about rural Rankin County, Mississippi, which had an eighty percent illiteracy rate, that Jones identified his personal mission.

[6] A local freed slave named Ed Taylor gave Jones 40 acres (160,000 m2) and an abandoned sheep shed to start his Piney Woods School.

After marrying Grace Morris Allen in 1912, Jones built a larger school to accommodate the large number of students interested in attending.

[6] In his popular book How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, author and motivator Dale Carnegie told a story of how Jones had survived a near-lynching in 1918 by demonstrating to the white mob how passionate he was about his efforts to educate African-American children.

His daughter, Helen, was part of the influential World War II-era and she played trombone in a swing band called the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, which was originally formed at the school.

[19] In 2007 the U.S. Congress dedicated the Laurence C. and Grace M. Jones Post Office Building in Piney Woods, Mississippi in honor of the couples' legacy in the community.