Hubert S. “Rabbit” Jones (May 7, 1932–October 5, 2024) was a businessman, musician, and community leader who achieved several professional “firsts” for African Americans in West Virginia. He also made lasting contributions to the state’s musical community through his decades-long career as a bassist.

Jones was born in Laing, Fayette County, to James Jones and Comora Washington Jones. He attended Wake Forest Junior High School in Laing and graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in London, Kanawha County. After graduation, he served in the U.S. Air Force for about three-and-a-half years before receiving an honorable discharge. He then enrolled at West Virginia State College (now University), where he studied business administration and education and completed a four-year bachelor’s degree program in three years.

Jones began his professional career in Chicago as a statistician for the America Fore Insurance Group, becoming the company’s first African American employee in that position. After about five years, he returned to West Virginia and joined the state Business and Occupational/Gross Sales Tax Division as an auditor and revenue agent, becoming the first African American hired for those positions. He later became the first Black manager for the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company of West Virginia. During his 25-year career with the company, he advanced to manager of Internal Auditing before retiring. He also became the first professional auditor in West Virginia to earn the Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) credential and later put his auditing experience to work with the state Bureau of Employment Programs.

Music was another important part of Jones’s life and eventually became a second career. An accomplished stand-up bass player, he performed on radio and television programs and in nightclubs, schools, and churches. He also recorded music and worked as an in-house bassist at a recording studio in Salem, Virginia. His musical achievements included a notable connection to the West Virginia Symphony, which named its principal bass violin chair in his honor, making him the first African American musician to have a West Virginia Symphony chair named for him.

Jones was active in civic and professional organizations as well. He served as a member of the Auditor OIC’s Board of Directors, advised the Business Administration Department at West Virginia State College, and maintained other strong connections to his alma mater. He was a member of American Legion Post 57 and the American Federation of Musicians, Local No. 136, and was a past member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.

Jones also made history in the nightclub business. In the 1950s, he and his partners, MacDonald Cary Jr. and Warren Pope Sr., became the first African Americans to receive a license for a nightclub in West Virginia, located in Charleston's Triangle District.

This article is part of By the People Conversations Beyond 250, a series of community-driven programs created by humanities councils in collaboration with local partners. The 
initiative was developed by the Federation of State Humanities Councils and the 
Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.