MARK R. JONES is an eighth generation South Carolina native
and quite possibly his own second cousin. He enjoyed college so much it took him seven
years to complete his studies. He then realized that taking history and literature classes by
day, while becoming an expert on rum consumption by night, made him qualified to do
absolutely nothing! So he became a Charleston tour guide.
Jones immediately carved his own niche in Charleston
tourism by researching a topic that had long been
neglected by other historians: SEX, MURDER & SCANDALS!
Upon finding his life's calling Jones has researched
and wrote four books in three years, including the
wildly popular two WICKED CHARLESTON volumes.
In 2006 Jones turned his love of Charleston's history into a
full time career. With his wife, novelist Rebel Sinclair, he
opened Black Cat Tours, offering night time walking tours
which specialize in showing people the OTHER side of America's Most Historic City.
Mark has been featured on MSNBC, CMT, and NPR. He has also been a guest on the
nationally syndicated radio show, Speaking of Strange, hosted by Joshua P. Warren and a
guest on NPR's Michael Feldman's Whad' Ya Know? In 2009, Mark was featured in the
award-winning Phantoms of History TV show.
He is a popular lecturer for corporate and civic groups. He also conducts history-based
presentations across South Carolina dealing with subjects such as: Confederate Charleston,
Charleston jazz, murder, scandal and haunted history.
and quite possibly his own second cousin. He enjoyed college so much it took him seven
years to complete his studies. He then realized that taking history and literature classes by
day, while becoming an expert on rum consumption by night, made him qualified to do
absolutely nothing! So he became a Charleston tour guide.
Jones immediately carved his own niche in Charleston
tourism by researching a topic that had long been
neglected by other historians: SEX, MURDER & SCANDALS!
Upon finding his life's calling Jones has researched
and wrote four books in three years, including the
wildly popular two WICKED CHARLESTON volumes.
In 2006 Jones turned his love of Charleston's history into a
full time career. With his wife, novelist Rebel Sinclair, he
opened Black Cat Tours, offering night time walking tours
which specialize in showing people the OTHER side of America's Most Historic City.
Mark has been featured on MSNBC, CMT, and NPR. He has also been a guest on the
nationally syndicated radio show, Speaking of Strange, hosted by Joshua P. Warren and a
guest on NPR's Michael Feldman's Whad' Ya Know? In 2009, Mark was featured in the
award-winning Phantoms of History TV show.
He is a popular lecturer for corporate and civic groups. He also conducts history-based
presentations across South Carolina dealing with subjects such as: Confederate Charleston,
Charleston jazz, murder, scandal and haunted history.
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| All Material © MARK R. JONES, 2008-2012 |
BLOG: A NEW LOOK AT THE OLD SOUTH
Latest Entry: The Most Important Day In American Musical History
“The ‘greatest hit’ of 20th century popular music was not the creation of Michael Jackson,
the Bee Gees or even the Beatles. Anyone with a sense of history will realize that the
once-ubiquitous dance tune called the ‘Charleston’ fueled a craze that has never been matched.”
– Leslie Stifelman, Columbia Journal of American Studies.
Thursday, May 2, 1912. The concert that night was a curious affair, a benefit by black
musicians for the Music School Settlement for Colored People, Harlem’s institution for
artistically gifted children. This would be the largest assemblage of African-American
artists ever gathered together in New York to perform in the most famous white-owned,
white-operated theater in the United States - Carnegie Hall. More than three hundred
black American musical artists were scheduled to play before a sold-out mixed race
audience, on the same stage that had hosted the likes of Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and
Arthur Rubinstein.
Although Emancipation was fifty years in the past, blacks were still viewed as a lower
class of people by the majority of white Americans, and black musicians were held in even
lower esteem ...
Continue reading ...
Latest Entry: The Most Important Day In American Musical History
“The ‘greatest hit’ of 20th century popular music was not the creation of Michael Jackson,
the Bee Gees or even the Beatles. Anyone with a sense of history will realize that the
once-ubiquitous dance tune called the ‘Charleston’ fueled a craze that has never been matched.”
– Leslie Stifelman, Columbia Journal of American Studies.
Thursday, May 2, 1912. The concert that night was a curious affair, a benefit by black
musicians for the Music School Settlement for Colored People, Harlem’s institution for
artistically gifted children. This would be the largest assemblage of African-American
artists ever gathered together in New York to perform in the most famous white-owned,
white-operated theater in the United States - Carnegie Hall. More than three hundred
black American musical artists were scheduled to play before a sold-out mixed race
audience, on the same stage that had hosted the likes of Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and
Arthur Rubinstein.
Although Emancipation was fifty years in the past, blacks were still viewed as a lower
class of people by the majority of white Americans, and black musicians were held in even
lower esteem ...
Continue reading ...
| Join Mark for Charleston's most entertaining tours |