Samuel Leon Jones, the first African American mayor of Mobile, Alabama, was born in Mobile on April 14, 1947. He attended local schools and graduated from Central High School in Mobile. He later attended Florida Junior College which was renamed Florida Community College at Jacksonville in 1986. In 2009 it became a four-year institution, Florida State College at Jacksonville. Jones transferred to Jacksonville University; a private institution in Jacksonville and graduated from that institution. Later in life he was awarded an honorary doctorate from an Alabama seminary school.
Sam Jones served in the U.S. Navy for nine years. He was a flight deck supervisor for A-7 aircraft aboard the USS Forestal. He also served as an equal opportunity officer, race relations, education specialist, and community service coordinator for Arizona Senator John McCain in Washington, D.C. From 1980 to 1987 he was employed as the executive director of Mobile Community Action, Inc, a federally funded anti-poverty agency that administers Head Start and other government programs.
In 1987 Jones entered politics and was elected a Mobile County commissioner. He served four terms in that post, representing district 1 at the northern end of the county. He is credited with improving county and city relationships. A new metro jail and the Mobile Government Plaza were constructed during his time in office
In 2005 Sam Jones was elected mayor of Mobile. He was the first African American to hold that post. As mayor, Jones focused on reforms to the local criminal justice system. He promoted alternative sentencing initiatives for non-violent offenders, drug court, and greater parental responsibility for their children’ actions. His efforts to reduce crime for Mobile citizens and the tourists who visited the city led him to support a strict litter law especially in the historic district which attracted most of the city’s tourists. He also promoted education and argued that to attract investment to Mobile, the city needed an educated workforce. Finally, he worked to make city government easily accessible and user friendly for the citizens of Mobile.
Jones won re-election in 2009 but lost the 2013 race for mayor to Sandy Stimpson. He ran in 2017 for mayor but was unsuccessful. In 2018 Jones was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives. He is a Democrat and represents district 99 in the Alabama House of Representatives.
