Ambrosia Wysinger Jones Papers includes photographs, scrapbooks, correspondence, newspaper clippings, legal documents, and ephemera that document the various business activities and family history of Ambrosia Wysinger Jones.

Ambrosia Wysinger Jones (1905-1999) was born on August 30, 1905 in Oakland, California. She was the granddaughter of the noted civil rights activist, Edmond Wysinger, an early advocate of desegregating the California public school system in the 1890s. In the 1940s, she married Hillarie Jones and the two owned and operated a number of business enterprises, including a chain of barbershops in Oakland and ‘The Alameda’ Barbeque Pit and Union Barbershop in Alameda, California. In 1960, they started Charm Beauty College in Oakland becoming the first African Americans to own and operate a beauty college in Northern California. They also operated an additional beauty school in Richmond and started the first black travel agency, Charm Travel Agency, that catered to African Americans looking to vacation in Africa and the Caribbean.

1.5 linear feet (3 boxes + 1 oversized box)

Permission to publish from the Ambrosia Wysinger Jones Papers must be obtained from the African American Museum and Library at Oakland.

No access restrictions. Collection is open to the public.