Explore Black History

1924-1928

Rev. Solomon Sir Jones was a Baptist minister, businessman, and amateur filmmaker. This collection of home movies by Jones documents African American communities in Oklahoma between 1924 and 1928, depicting residents at work and in their homes, as well as activities at local schools, businesses, and churches. Community social events such as parades and funerals are prominently featured.

A home movie featuring footage taken in Oklahoma during the middle and late 1920s by Solomon Sir Jones. It is the sixth in a collection of nine films and consists of a single reel of silent 16mm black-and-white acetate film.
The film begins with a procession of people dressed in semi-formal clothing walking by the camera before entering what appears to be a brick church building. The next scene shows men exiting a storefront with a Simmons Drug Store sign in the window. A title sign reads Mme C. J. Walker Graduating Class 1927 & Agents By Mme Dora Stephen of Muskogee, Oklahoma. The camera pans over a large group of women from the beauty school dressed in white seated with a man and woman in the center of the group not dressed in white. The crowd moves around and then walks up the front stairs of the building and enters the front door. The next title sign reads South Muskogee District Fair Parade & Board Summit September 17, 1926, L. W. Thomas Manager & J. I. Jones, S. M. Winston, A. C. Calloway. The footage shows a parade of cars in a parade and many of the cars are decorated with streamers. The cars pass in front of the camera. There are also horses pulling decorated wagons. The next scene shows a group of men standing on the stairs in front of a building and the camera pans in front of the building after then men walk down the stairs. The next title sign reads Rentiesville, Oklahoma, Free Fair & Board, W. A. Roberson, S. H. D., A. L. Morris, H. Hill, Professor A. G. McKeney, L. W. Prestly Co. 1926. The footage shows men in a marching band playing instruments and walking out of the front door of Rentiesville High School. A group of men and women follow the band out of the front door and walk by the camera. The camera pans across the front of the building and show the crowd in front. The next scene shows the interior of a business that appears to be a bakery. The scene shows a man and a woman get into a car and then exit the car. The next title sign reads Hugh Vocational Department Professor Prestley And B. T. Roberson, Rentiesville, Oklahoma, 1926. The footage is from an elevated position and shows cars with decoration and horses passing in front of the camera. The horses are being ridden by riders as well as pulling wagons. The next scene shows the exterior of the Home Undertaking Company building. There is also a sign hanging on the outside of the building that says Idlewild Rooms. The next title sign reads One Of Walker's Up Town Buildings in Muskogee, Oklahoma, September 17, 1926. A family walks down the front stairs and out to a building in the backyard and then returns to the house. The family also stands for a portrait. The next scene is filmed from a moving vehicle, probably a train, and shows a body of water and the coastline. Ships are visible in the distance and a road runs parallel to the tracks and cars can be seen driving on the road. There a brief shot from the back of train showing the train tracks and then the camera returns to the side window of the train.

National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection

Rev. S.S. Jones Home Movies

Time-based Media - Moving Images

Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Naomi Long Madgett

National Museum of African American History and Culture

2011.79.6.1a

silent films
home movies
black-and-white films (visual works)
16mm (photographic film size)

No Known Copyright Restrictions
Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.

acetate film

Duration: 11 Minutes
Length (Film): 300 Feet

Title • Rev. S.S. Jones Home Movies: Reel 6

nmaahc_2011.79.6.1a

NMAAHC

REV. S.S. JONES HOME MOVIES: REEL 6

National Museum of African American History and Culture

CC0

1920s

Jones, S. S. • Madame C.J. Walker School of Beauty Culture • Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company

Muskogee • Muskogee County • Rentiesville • United States • Oklahoma • North and Central America • McIntosh County • Summit

Description and travel • Amusements • American South • American West • Communities • Family • Society • Beauty schools • Business

Baptists • African Americans

City • Muskogee • County • Muskogee County • State • Oklahoma • Country • United States • Continent • North and Central America • City • Rentiesville • County • McIntosh County • City • Summit

silent films • black-and-white films (visual works) • 16mm (photographic film size) • Home movies

Video recordings

No Known Copyright Restrictions