[1] In 2017, she became a co-president of the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians,[4] and serves on the board of governors for the William L. Clements Library.

[6] She shows that the American Civil War provided black women the opportunity to expand their involvement in public service activities, such as teaching and charity work, and that despite the constraints of the Reconstruction era and Jim Crow laws, many black women were able to further their positions in social and religious institutions and thereby accrue public authority.

Jones explains the development of Birthright citizenship in the United States using both legal and extra-legal claims by African Americans in the city of Baltimore.

[9] Rather than focusing primarily on Congressional debates or judicial decisions, Jones traces how free black people in Baltimore gradually inhabited the role of citizens by engaging with the legal system to claim opportunities like travel permits, debt relief, gun licenses, control over property, lawsuits, and contract-making.

[9] In 2020, Jones published Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote and Insisted on Equality for All.

[1] Jones has curated museum exhibitions, including "Reframing the Color Line" and "Proclaiming Emancipation" in conjunction with the William L. Clements Library.