From Wilson Hall to City Hall: An inside look at JMU alumnus Mayor Chris Jones

On Sept. 17, 1999, a JMU senior led a group of about 65 students in a silent march around the Quad to address concerns, including the fact that Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday wasn’t recognized as a university holiday.

Today, that student, Chris Jones, is Harrisonburg’s mayor.

“That was a big moment and a big day,” Jones said. “It was a very peaceful, quiet, organized march.”

The protest was during former JMU President Linwood Rose’s inauguration, which was declared a university holiday even though administration said it couldn’t just add holidays, such as King’s birthday. After the march, on Oct. 28, 1999, the University Council voted unanimously to cancel all classes on MLK Day beginning January 2001.

“I led and helped to organize that and I would say that was one of the biggest things,” Jones said. “And for the last 15 years we’ve celebrated and observed King’s birthday in a greater way by taking that day off campus-wide.”

Starting his lifetime of leadership early on, Jones, a native of Danville, Virginia, served as president of the Baptist General Convention of Virginia’s Youth Division when he was just 15. He graduated from JMU in 2000 with a bachelor's degree in sociology and a minor in business. Upon returning to Harrisonburg a few years after graduation, Jones wanted to get involved again.

“I felt like there were a lot of groups in the community, including the student body of James Madison University, that were underrepresented when it came to local government,” Jones said. “So I thought it would be wise to throw my hat in the ring in local government.”

Jones was elected to the City Council in November 2014, which was the first time he had ever run for public office. The council then selected him as mayor in January 2015. His victory wasn’t a surprise to those who knew him.

“I knew he was always in a position where he could speak to others, so I knew he could do that as a pastor or in politics,” Gary McCoy, Jones’ resident adviser during the Transitions program the summer before his freshman year, said.

McCoy noted that something was different about Jones from the moment he met him.

“Even though he was a freshman, he would always hang out with the older folks — he has an older soul-type thing going on,” McCoy said. “Instead of being just a regular freshman, he became the ‘Freshman Sensation.’”

Many still call Jones the “Freshman Sensation” to this day, and he liked the nickname so much that it became his radio name when he took to the WXJM airwaves.

“I was the DJ Sensation, played the hottest in hip-hop, the rudest in reggae and all that other stuff to make your ‘beep’ move,” Jones said.

When he wasn’t playing the hottest in hip-hop, Jones kept busy by serving as a senator in the Student Government Association, singing with the Contemporary Gospel Singers and being vice president of the Black Student Alliance. As vice president, he secured a larger budget for the organization using the knowledge he gained as an SGA senator.

His involvement with BSA is also where he led the march to celebrate MLK’s birthday. To ensure his safety, JMU police drove him to and from the Quad. For Jones, the magnitude of that day is matched by few other moments in his life.

One of those other times was the day he became mayor.

“Having my mother and other family members and friends being there, in addition to my classmates and friends from James Madison, the day I was sworn in as mayor was extremely memorable,” Jones said.

Family is something that Jones speaks about frequently. His children, Solomon, Haile and Haiden are 14, 11 and 7, respectively. Jones and his wife, Terra, also just welcomed a new addition to their family. Seth Christopher Jones was born this past October.

“He’s the most memorable thing that’s happened this year,” Jones said.

Aside from his new baby, Jones has noticed some other changes in his life. Mainly, how people treat him.

“As a young African-American male from the South, I was not allowed access to a lot of the conversations that are had to develop and shape government,” Jones said. “Being the mayor, everyone wants to talk to me, everyone wants to know what I think, or shape how I think. Just over the short period of time, I feel like I went from being ... overlooked to being included.”

Now that Jones has the access, he’s fully entrenching himself in the Harrisonburg community.

Some examples of his involvement include giving the 2015 graduation commencement speech for Spotswood High School, serving as the president of the Harrisonburg-Rockingham chapter of the NAACP and working with the Beta Delta Delta chapter of Omega Psi Phi at JMU.

The next chapter of community involvement for Jones is being on the advisory board of the Furious Flower Poetry Center, an organization that was started by his former professor, Joanne Gabbin.

Gabbin taught Jones in her Survey of African-American Literature class in 1999. Even then, she knew he was special.  

“I knew that he was going to be a leader,” Gabbin said. “Of course I could not fathom that he would come back to Harrisonburg and be mayor of this town, but I knew he was going to be a leader. He had such a sense of knowing who he was and not apologizing for anything about himself.”

Gabbin also remembers something else about Jones that made him stand out.

“I used to tease him because he would come into my class five, 10 minutes late,” Gabbin said. “I told him he was going to have to watch that.”

Despite his tardiness, Gabbin’s fondness of Jones never wilted, and she was excited to have him join Furious Flower.

“He said to me when I was speaking at the annual Freedom Fund Banquet that he still had his book, so I said, ‘OK, this man loves literature,’” Gabbin said.

After a September meeting where the board members unanimously voted to invite Jones to join, he is ready to take on his position with the poetry center.

“It’s just awesome to be in this leadership capacity, working with and helping to give advice to a mentor and former teacher,” Jones said.

From organizing the MLK march to serving as mayor, guiding others is a constant in Jones’ life.

“I believe in sacrificing time for community and for people,” Jones said. “It’s what gives me energy, it’s what keeps me going."