Born in Charleston, South Carolina, Edward Jones was one of the first individuals of African descent to pursue higher education in the United States. Graduating from Amherst College in 1826, he continued his studies in Connecticut and planned to emigrate to Liberia in 1830. A decade later, he became principal of what is now Fourah Bay College in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and spent most of the remainder of his life as a naturalized British subject. Correspondence and other documents pertaining to his career in Africa can be found here.
Source: Original Papers, Rev. Edward Jones, CA1/0129, Church Missionary Society Archive, Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham (Birmingham, UK)