Solomon Sir Jones (1869–1936) was an American minister and amateur film-maker, best known for his collection of 29 silent black-and-white films (totaling 355 minutes' worth of footage) documenting African-American communities in Oklahoma from 1924 to 1928.
The films document a rich tapestry of everyday life: funerals, sporting events, schools, parades, businesses, Masonic meetings, river baptisms, families at home, African-American oil barons and their wells, black colleges, Juneteenth celebrations, and a transcontinental footrace.
[1] Jones spent the next several decades building black institutions; establishing churches, newspapers, and businesses; and supporting the activities of schools and hospitals.
Jones also remained active in church politics, holding leadership roles in the National Baptist Convention of America, one of the largest African American denominations in the United States, for many years.
[6] A 2001 state commission examination of events was able to confirm that of the 36 dead, 26 were black and 10 white, based on contemporary autopsy reports, death certificates and other records.