Today we’d like to introduce you to Ryan Jones.
Hi Ryan, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My interest in history began around 1993 at age 8. I became extremely fascinated with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. As a child in grade school, I found myself reading everything about the 1950s and 1960s. From JFK, my interests expanded into the study of the Civil Rights Movement. My parents Dr. LaDon and Susan Jones took me to every library and encouraged me to watch every documentary possible and urged me to want to do something that created positive change. When I attended the University of Tennessee at Martin, my professor Dr. David Barber taught a survey class on the Civil Rights Movement.
It was there, he assigned the class to read James Baldwin’s “The Fire Next Time.” This book, the class, and the experience to learn how to research changed how I viewed the study of history. When I returned to Memphis, I began working at the National Civil Rights Museum, the site of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a part-time tour guide in November 2011. During my time at the museum, I have the humbling opportunity to listen to first-hand accounts of civil rights veterans including the late John Lewis, Julian Bond, and Andrew Young. Working at the National Civil Rights Museum has given me the privilege to meet and interact with many walks of life; heads of state, dignitaries, professional athletes including President Joe Biden.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Studying the Civil Rights Movement is studying difficult history. There were certainly growing pains. Learning how to be accountable as an aspiring historian and objective and unbiased was undoubtedly the biggest struggle I had. I believe the study of history is not based on theory, but on facts.
Learning how to separate my emotional attachments from a historical individual or event and interpret and research it under an unbiased lens is what I would say has been the toughest of all. I’d like to believe that has paid off now.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m the Associate Curator of the National Civil Rights Museum. In the museum, I work as a subject matter expert on various topics ranging from 20th-century American history. One day, I could be asked to give a tour of the museum to a corporation. On another day, I could be asked to review the interpretive content for historical accuracy within the museum’s scholarship. I’d like to think of myself as still continuing to read and learn as much as I can regarding the museum’s content and topics related to the Civil Rights Movement. I would say my primary concentrations of research surrounds the investigation of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, which happened at the Lorraine Motel, the current site of the museum. I also am very deeply invested in researching Civil Rights cold case, and incidents in which civil rights activists were murdered as a result of a hate crime and have yet to receive justice. What makes me the proudest is the opportunity to tell THEIR stories.
These courageous individuals who range from age 14 to 70, both black and white, were killed because they fought against racial discrimination and wanted to be treated as first class citizens. To be able to tell their stories on their behalf and reassure the public their lives will always be remembered is the most humbling experience in my daily work.
What are your plans for the future?
I hope to write the most definitive work on the connections of MLK and JFK’s assassinations, on Civil Rights cold cases, and the rise of soul singer Sam Cooke. I’d say my biggest pipe dream would be to work on creating a documentary on the 1970s and 1980s musical group Earth Wind & Fire. While at the museum, I am very eager to grow in my new position and to learn and network with other curators in museums across the world.
Contact Info:
- Website: civilrightsmuseum.org
- Twitter: @illmatic_94
Image Credits
Ryan Jones
