Aalillian Jones aspires to amplify and preserve cultural histories

The works of author and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston – best known for the 1937 novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God – have had a profound impact on HFC student Aalillian Chateaise Yvonne Jones.

“She was one of the first people to look at African American culture, specifically in the Black American south, from an anthropological perspective as a culture worthy of preservation,” said Jones. “She researched many different topics from folktales to Hoodoo. In anthropology, she changed the game. She did that by being immersed within that culture and participating in it instead of being an outsider looking in. She offered a new perspective to fieldwork, such as ethnography. She is an example of how Black women across generations are the keepers of our stories. She died in poverty and obscurity until Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker bought her headstone and went on a journey unearthing her work so that a new generation of people now study her.”

Lessons from HFC that she will always carry with her

Born in Lansing, Jones is the fourth of five children. After she graduated from Holt High School, Jones took some time off before pursuing a college education. She spent those years working for nonprofit organizations, first as the youth coordinator for One Love Global in Lansing and then as the head of programming for Detroit Heals Detroit.

Jones will graduate from HFC in May, earning her associate degree in liberal arts. This fall, Jones will transfer to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where she will major in interdisciplinary studies with a focus in sociocultural anthropology and Afroamerican and African studies. She aspires to get her master’s degree in library and information science, also from U-M.

"I know that going into archival studies requires a master’s degree. When looking at schools in Metro Detroit, I had my eye on HFC because it has strong ties to U-M. I also knew people who spoke highly of HFC, and I saw from its website that it has a strong student support system. That’s how I landed at the College," explained Jones.

During her time at HFC, Jones has been a member of or involved with:

"HFC has amazing professors who genuinely love their jobs and their students," said Jones. "The honors community is a strong community of peers and professors dedicated to supporting one another. There has been a resurgence of social events the Honors Program hosts that help foster that community. The lessons they taught are some that I’ll definitely carry with me for the rest of my career."

An authentic voice that combines academic and personal interests

Through the Bowers Focus Group, Jones completed a 10-week fellowship called the Humanities Collaboratory at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD and the Community College Summer Institute at U-M.

"Aalillian is one of the brightest students I have had the opportunity to work with. I have seen her continue to grow and flourish in the Bowers Focus Group and as her Honors Program Mentor, I have also witnessed the exceptional quality of her directed study research. The level of sophistication she demonstrated last semester was on par with work I have seen from graduate students. This was not her first research experience either. Last summer, Aalillian participated in a competitive summer research program at Johns Hopkins, which is just one of several opportunities she has actively sought out and excelled in," said HFC English instructor Dr. Courtney Matthews.

HFC PTK faculty advisor and Bowers Focus Group co-faculty advisor Chardin Claybourne also expressed his pride in Jones.

"Aalillian is one of those amazing people who just seems destined to make the world a better place – and that’s probably because she’s already contributed positively and enriched the lives of the many people she’s touched!" said Claybourne. "Her intellect is only rivaled by her passion and commitment to social justice issues, and she has already found very interesting ways to combine her academic pursuits with her personal and professional interests. Aalillian has an authentic voice and a powerful message to share with those willing to listen. I’m proud that she is part of the Honors Program, the Bowers Focus Group, and PTK because any group she joins benefits from having her as a member."

HFC English instructor Dr. John Rietz served as her faculty mentor on her LAND project called "Making Tracks: Mapping Memory Through Music and Migration." Jones explored how African American musical traditions – particularly blues, jazz, and soul – reflect the relationship between place and identity within the context of migration. Centering on the Great Migration as both a historical event and a cultural reorientation, Jones situated her family’s history within the broader reshaping of Black life in the mid-to-late 1900s. Drawing upon the memory of her great-grandfather, Al "the Perker" Perkins and his three siblings, she used an autoethnographic approach to trace how their musical practices developed alongside demographic shifts from the Mississippi Delta to Chicago and Detroit.

"I argue that Black musical traditions function as place-making practices and repositories of collective memory, revealing how music shapes and is shaped by the geographies of Black movement," explained Jones. "This was a very amazing project. I grew up in a family of storytellers, whether it be through oral traditions, photography, or music."

“She loves to learn, she loves to discuss, she loves to explore”

HFC English instructor Pedro San Antonio has been a major influence on Jones.

"Pedro San Antonio completely changed the way I approached writing," she said. "There is a certain canon we are taught regarding writing – at least what I was taught when I was in high school. He deconstructed all of that and allowed me to approach writing in a way that was more authentic to my voice. I thought about writing in ways that I hadn’t before. He offered a very helpful perspective on literature and different schools of thought."

Other major influences include Claybourne, Rietz, Matthews, and HFC sociology instructor Dr. Kalvin DaRonne Harvell. Their tutelage has instilled in Jones the confidence needed to succeed at U-M.

"It feels more like a natural next step. I’ve always been very academically inclined, even when I wasn’t in college. I’m always learning, always studying," she said. "I want to become an archivist. What excites me is that it takes whatever form the world demands of it – that’s the world I want to build. Whether that’s preserving the oral histories and working on reparation projects like the Black Bottom Archives or the Free Black Women’s Library in Brooklyn, NY. I would love to have something similar here in Detroit."

Added Matthews: "Aalillian is a bright light in every space she enters, and I was delighted when she recently shared with me her acceptance to U-M. I have no doubt that she will continue to thrive and make meaningful contributions to every community she becomes part of. She is an extraordinary student whose curiosity will serve her well as she moves forward into this next chapter."

Farming as a form of memory work; a person full of joy

Outside HFC, Jones is involved in The Joy Project and Fennigan’s Farms, both based in Detroit.

"I’m a farmer in Detroit," she said. "Agriculture is also a form of memory work. It is through my work as a farmer that I develop the skills and care for land-based practices that my ancestors engaged in, all the while ensuring the preservation of our foods and cultural practices for the folks who will one day call on me as an ancestor. My work in these different spaces has also been formative in my understanding of myself as a memory worker."

San Antonio is proud of Jones’ many accomplishments.

"Not only does Aalillian have a deep understanding of American history, she understands what historical events mean in today’s landscape. She makes connections between what happened and what is happening," he said. "And yet the moral flaws she observes in our history don’t deter her from being full of joy. For if there’s one word that describes her demeanor, it’s joy. She loves to learn, she loves to discuss, she loves to explore."