Joyce Stokes Jones was born on December 31, 1929, in Auburn, New York—the home and death place of Harriet Ross Tubman. Jones attended Seward Elementary School and later graduated from West High School in 1948. She met Harry Jones, Jr. in Buffalo, New York, and the two were married on June 16, 1951. Jones graduated from Bryant & Stratton College in June 1952. Jones was a career secretary, and she retired in 1989 after fifteen years as secretary to the president of the Syracuse Common Council. Beginning in the early 1970s, Jones began her thirty years of research and writing about the life and times of her great-great-grandaunt Harriet Ross Tubman.
In 1968, Jones contracted with The Syracuse Herald Journal to write a weekly column called “Black Heritage,” which depicted notable African American figures in American history. During that same year, she produced a children’s segment on black heritage at Channel 9 WSYR. Later in 1970, Jones was commissioned by New Readers Press to write a column entitled “Blacks in Time.” Two years later, she was hired at WCNY/Channel 24 to produce and direct thirty-minute segments on issues within the local black community.
Jones has given numerous presentations to students and congregations and community forums on Harriet Tubman’s life. She has also conducted tours at the Tubman Home. Her travels have taken her to such places as Annapolis, Cambridge, and Bucktown, Maryland. She has also visited St. Catharines, Canada, Cleveland, Ohio, New York City, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Auburn, New York. Jones made these trips in search of relevant information, and she was often led to new and different discoveries about her famous relative.
In 1985, Jones produced a documentary video on Harriet Tubman’s life based on her findings that was called A Conversation with a Living Relative of Harriet Tubman. Later in February 1992, she designed and handcrafted the limited edition Harriet Tubman doll. The doll was modeled after the author’s late daughter, Olivia Babette Jones, who resembled the famous Conductor of the Underground Railroad.
In October 1999, Jones was motivated to compile her research and writings to author Beyond the Underground: Aunt Harriet, Moses of Her People. It chronicles her investigation into circumstances and significant events that shaped the lives of the Green Ross family, while focusing on Harriet Ross Tubman, one of America’s greatest and bravest heroines. It is a poignant story that details the nuances and realities of slavery on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and alludes to the paradox of winning freedom in the northern states and Canada. The backbone of this work explores the relationships between family members, their masters, and friends, all of whom helped to create the Harriet Tubman saga. The manuscript is more dynamic and humbling than is often documented.
Jones was recognized by the Syracuse Common Council for her work to preserve and perpetuate the legacy of Harriet Tubman. She served on the board of directors of the Onondaga Historical Society. She was a member of the Urban League Harriet Tubman Award Committee. She was also awarded the Bethany Baptist Church Spirit of Harriet Tubman Award. The local chapter of the National Organization of Women recognized Jones with its Unsung Heroine Award. She was also inducted into the North Side Hall of Fame.
Jones is retired and resides in Syracuse, New York.
Michele Jones Galvin is the Director of Special Projects in the Department of Social Services and the former director of the ACCESS Center. The ACCESS Center was an infant mortality prevention program sponsored by the Department of Social Services. ACCESS, a centralized case management information system, was designed to ensure the coordination of contract agencies providing case management services, streamline the referral process, monitor case activity, and track services for families who are at risk for infant death.
Currently, Jones Galvin is responsible to assist the commissioner with the administration and management of innovative projects within the Department of Social Service-Economic Security and with community-based partners. She works closely with administrators of community-based organizations, schools, and health and social service programs to provide families the greatest access to medical care and support services that will significantly improve health outcomes and promote self-sufficiency. Jones Galvin specializes in program design, implementation, and evaluation. Her areas of expertise also include communication, collaboration, coordination, strategic planning, outreach, supervision, and board relations. In support of the county’s commitment to valuing diversity in the workplace, Jones Galvin is a member of the diversity training leadership team and a certified Bridges Out of Poverty facilitator.
Before relocating to Syracuse, Jones Galvin worked as a systems training and testing coordinator for Human Resources Administration in New York City. In 1985, she was awarded a masters degree in psychological research from the New School for Social Research. In 1980, she received a bachelors degree with a double major in psychology and African American studies from Fordham University.
Jones Galvin serves on the board of directors of the George and Rebecca Barnes Foundation, HealtheConnections RHIO of Central New York, and Loretto Nursing Home. She formerly served as a board member for Centers for Nature Education, Chadwick Residence, Consolidated Industries, Cultural Resources Council, Everson Museum, HOME, Inc., Juneteenth, Inc., Independent Living Services, Junior League of Syracuse, Loretto Corporate, Meals on Wheels, North East Community Center, Partners in Education and Business, PEACE, Inc., Regional Learning Services, Syracuse Corinthian Club, Syracuse Stage Guild, Transitional Living Services, Vera House, Volunteer Center, and Women’s Fund of Central New York.
Jones Galvin is also affiliated with Community Wide Dialogue on Race, FOCUS Greater Syracuse, Junior League of Syracuse, Lambda Kappa Mu, Inc., Leadership Greater Syracuse, National Coalition Building Institute, Professionals of Color, Syracuse Citizen’s Academy, and Thursday Morning Roundtable. She was the recipient of the Onondaga County Martin Luther King Award in 1998 and the Lambda Kappa Mu Service Award in 2001. In 2002, Jones Galvin was awarded the Thursday Morning Roundtable Award for Meritorious Community Service and the YWCA Diversity Achiever’s Award. In 2007, she was inducted into the North Side Hall of Fame. In 2008, Jones Galvin was recognized as one of the founders of the Women’s Fund of Central New York, and in 2009, she was awarded the Bethany Baptist Church Harriet Tubman Spirit Award. She was awarded the American Red Cross Women Who Mean Business Award in 2011.
Jones Galvin and her mother, Joyce Stokes Jones, began collaborating on a creative nonfiction book in 1999. The work is based on genealogical research and their family ties to Harriet Ross Tubman, Conductor of the Underground Railroad. It chronicles the family saga from the survival of the Middle Passage to slavery on the Eastern Shore of Maryland to freedom in Canada, and then settling in Central New York. Told from the perspective of a relative, Beyond the Underground: Aunt Harriet, Moses of Her People portrays the life, times, and accomplishments of the famed abolitionist. The book culminates as it speaks to the pivotal role of race, color, and discrimination as counterpoints in the lives of Tubman and her great-great-grandniece Joyce Stokes Jones.
Jones Galvin resides in Syracuse, New York, with her husband, John. Their son, John Jr., resides in Washington, D.C.
