Barbara O. Jones obit

Barbara O. Jones, ‘Daughters of the Dust’ Actress, Dies at 82

Part of the L.A. Rebellion film movement of the 1970s, she also was memorable in ‘Child of Resistance,’ ‘Diary of an African Nun,’ ‘Bush Mama’ and, opposite Muhammad Ali, ‘Freedom Road.’ 

She was not on the list.

Barbara O. Jones, the admired actress who emerged from the L.A. Rebellion movement of Black filmmakers at UCLA in the 1970s to star in Haile Gerima’s Bush Mama and Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust, has died. She was 82.

Jones died Tuesday at her home in Dayton, Ohio, her brother, Raymond Minor, told The Hollywood Reporter.

“Rest In Peace & Power,” Dash wrote on Instagram.

For Gerima, Jones portrayed an imprisoned woman fighting for social justice in the 36-minute short film Child of Resistance (1973) — the character was inspired by activist Angela Davis — and a welfare recipient in Watts who undergoes an ideological transformation in the filmmaker’s feature debut, Bush Mama (1979). Both films were made at UCLA.

Jones starred as a Ugandan nun questioning her faith in Dash’s 13-minute student film Diary of an African Nun (1977), adapted from an Alice Walker short story. She then reunited with Dash to play Yellow Mary, a granddaughter who returns one final time in 1902 to her Gullah family’s island home off the coast of Georgia in Dash’s acclaimed feature debut, Daughters of the Dust (1991).

A critical darling, Daughters of the Dust played at Sundance and was the first American feature by an African American woman to receive a general theatrical release. It is on Sight & Sound‘s latest list of the greatest films of all time.

Also billed as Barbarao, Barbara-O and BarbaraO during her career, Jones appeared alongside Muhammad Ali in the 1979 NBC miniseries Freedom Road. He played a former slave and Union soldier elected to the U.S. Senate, and she was his wife.

And she starred as a grandmother and mother of Nicole Ari Parker’s character in Patrice Mallard’s Mute Love (1999).

Born Barbara Olivia Minor in Dayton Ohio, Jones went to Roosevelt High School — her mother, Alberta, was a business teacher there — and was a radio personality who went by the name Bobbie Montgomery on local station WDAO in the late 1960s before making her way to California.

Her résumé also included the Bernie Casey-starring Black Chariot (1971), the science fiction/horror movie Demon Seed (1977) and Maangamizi: The Ancient One (2001) and TV appearances on The Quest, The Powers of Matthew Star, Laverne & Shirley, Wonder Woman and Lou Grant.

In addition to Raymond and her other brother, Marlon, survivors include her children, Gina and William.

 

Actress

Queenae Taylor Mulvihill in Maangamizi: The Ancient One (2001)

Maangamizi: The Ancient One

6.9

Dr. Asira (as BarbaraO)

2001

 

Mute Love (1999)

Mute Love

6.5

Sweet Mama (as Barbara O)

1999

 

The Johnson Girls

Short

(as Barbara O)

1996

 

A Powerful Thang (1991)

A Powerful Thang

6.7

(as Barbara O)

1991

 

Daughters of the Dust (1991)

Daughters of the Dust

6.6

Yellow Mary (as Barbara-O)

1991

 

Back Inside Herself

Short

(as Barbara-O)

1984

 

The Powers of Matthew Star (1982)

The Powers of Matthew Star

6.0

TV Series

Eve Brice (as Barbara-O)

1983

1 episode

 

Muhammad Ali and Kris Kristofferson in Freedom Road (1979)

Freedom Road

5.7

TV Movie

Rachel Jackson (as Barbara-O Jones)

1979

 

Bush Mama (1979)

Bush Mama

7.2

Dorothy (as Barbara O. Jones)

1979

 

Edward Asner in Lou Grant (1977)

Lou Grant

7.3

TV Series

Cathy (as Barbara O. Jones)

1978

1 episode

 

Lynda Carter in Wonder Woman (1975)

Wonder Woman

7.0

TV Series

Sell (as Barbara O. Jones)

1977

2 episodes

 

Enigma (1977)

Enigma

6.0

TV Movie

Miranda Larawa (as Barbara O. Jones)

1977

 

Demon Seed (1977)

Demon Seed

6.3

Technician (as Barbara O. Jones)

1977

 

Diary of an African Nun (1977)

Diary of an African Nun

7.1

Short

Sister Gloria (as Barbara O. Jones)

1977

 

Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams in Laverne & Shirley (1976)

Laverne & Shirley

7.0

TV Series

Toni (as Barbara O. Jones)

1977

1 episode

 

Kurt Russell and Tim Matheson in The Quest (1976)

The Quest

7.1

TV Series

Hannah Factor (as Barbara O. Jones)

1976

1 episode

 

Child of Resistance (1973)

Child of Resistance

6.7

Short

1973

 

Black Chariot (1971)

Black Chariot

The Drifter's Lover

1971

 

Additional Crew

The Dream Catcher (1999)

The Dream Catcher

6.8

additional set production assistant (as Barbara O)

1999