Margot Kinsey JONES

Margot Kinsey Jones

Margot’s Highlights 1961-2021

1959 - Left Westport with my mother headed to California where she went to reinvent herself in Carmel-by-the-Sea.

1961 - Graduated from Carmel HS. After a rocky start, I made friends for life and attended their 50th reunion.

1961 - 63 - Stephens College in Columbus, Missouri; joined a civil rights sit-in at Ernie’s Steak House and bowling alley.

1963 - 65 - University of Wisconsin - Asian Studies Major - join SNCC and CORE; attended anti-Vietnam War protest.

1965 - 67 - Peace Corps volunteer in Guayaquil, Ecuador, in community development; camped out at Machu Picchu’ Temple of Virgins.

1967 - 68 - MA from Bank Street College of Education, in Early Childhood Education

1968 - Represented Bank Street at civil rights march with sanitation workers in Memphis, TN, in honor of slain Martin Luther King, Jr.

1968 - 1979- P.S.42 Lower Eastside, New York City, fifth grade teacher; visited by the FBI in school after teaching about “red” China.

1968 - Joined the Committee of Returned Volunteers(CRV) for Peace Corps et. al; produced curricula like Guatemala Prospective on influence by United Fruit Inc. on political system (copies still available).

1969 - Went to Cuba with CRV group to lay groundwork for the Venceremos Bridgades, for volunteers to cut cane and learn about the country. One guide called me a “confused anarchist” when arguing with him about individual rights; met scary North Koreans.

1969 - Testified at trial of CRV protester beaten and arrested at 1968 rally for George Wallace, discovered I had an FBI file that I got from Freedom of Information Act for "potential subversives,” corrected some dates and places and returned.

1974 - Went to China with US - China People’s Friendship Association in the twilight of the Mao Tse Tung era; thought I was on another planet.

1979 - Led tour of teachers to China as the Cultural Revolution was over and it began steps toward free market type economy.

1979 - Leave-of-absence from teaching to pursue education administrative certification

1981 - Hired by IMPACT II, a NYC-DOE/ Exxon Education Foundation project that provided small grants to teachers to share and others to adopt original curricula.

1986 - Sabbatical to travel throughout Asia and South America

1986 - Research assistant to AT&T Foundation VP to compile data on growth of Latino communities; reviewed grant applications.

1988 - Returned as IMPACT II NYC director as it expanded to a national organization.

1994 - Teacher at P.S. 113 in Harlem; founded ice hockey team, wrote curriculum on Black History and conducted mock historic trials to model the justice system, something I learned to do at Staples.

1999 - Retired from DOE and went to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos; hung out with US veterans revisiting the country; sponsored and hosted a photographer for international exhibit at Grand Central - Vanderbilt Hall.

2000 - Teacher trainer for Ventures Education Systems, Inc., to use brain-centered research for learning modules

2001 - Education director of Bread and Roses Cultural Program a non-profit with District 99 - Union of Hospital and Health Care Workers, now part of the SEIU; contracted with artist to work in schools; in the only art gallery that’s part of a union curated exhibits for, by and about working people that included work by students, union members and artists.

2006 - Volunteer writing coach and mentor for The Posse Foundation in NYC that awards 4-year merit scholarships to students

2011 - Present - Continue to mentor US students from Bhutan, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Valley State Prison in California.

2017 - After the election of Trump, I was looking for an organization out of my usual circle and not political where I could participate in community service and be around people focused on American history. After attending a lecture on genealogy, I met two Black members of the DAR who suggested I join. When I demurred, they suggested I research how as a result of the 1939 debacle of the Marian Anderson concert the DAR changed their racists policies. (Google DAR and Marian Anderson). So, I joined the DAR. Media shows on Marian Anderson, even a recent PBS one who used DAR vast archive on Anderson, stopped with this shameful incident, and doesn’t include how she reconciled with the DAR and performed several times at the venue, and more. It’s such a positive lesson on how an organization and its members can change for the better. It’s a relief to have a respite from talking about current political situation.

Here are some of the activities I participate in, some pre-pandemic:

• Conservation of parks, food pantries, school essay contest (remember "I Speak for Democracy” contest?)

• Visit VA hospitals patients and provide parties for their families; invite vets to give talks on many subjects.

• Contribute building funds, library, art, tech and school supplies, and personal items to Chemawa School and Bacone College for American Indians.

• As new Historian, provide a monthly synopsis of important historic dates and some from the DAR “E Pluribus Unum”and “Forgotten Patriots Project" that now includes 6,000 names of Black, Indigenous and mixed-race who contributed to American independence

• Invited Peter Meyers who along with my close friend, the late Jeffrey Jones, a Staples HS alumni, gave a talk on their book, The Pledge: The History of the Pledge of Allegiance. You'd probably be surprised at the effort by one individual to create and then get legislation to have schools use it and why.

• Gave a book review of Lafayette in the Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell and learned about my ancestor who came over with the French and hid in an empty pickle barrel rather than return.

After the end of the pandemic (I had both shots), I look forward to sending the baby blankets that I knitted for elephants and their caretakers in refuges; adding to my life-list of visiting World Heritage Sites; leading groups to revisit the Equal Justice Initiative civil rights museums and memorial to lynching victims in Montgomery, AL; going back to Oaxaca each winter; visiting nephews and their children; seeing friends, some old and some young, around the country; and most of all, enjoying all the cultural venues and eating in great restaurants that make living in New York City so exciting.