Jones’s Church Supper suggests the celebration of an African American picnic supper, sometimes called Dinner on the Grounds. An event like this is held in summer, usually on the first Sunday in August. It was always, and still is, a revival meeting. And while the church steeple rises in the background, there are no other signs or allusions to Christian worship, which suggests, for Jones, that this is a social event.
The supper is served on pine boards, where the congregation dines communally. The moment Jones selects is the arrival of families by horse-drawn wagons. They are dressed to the occasion, bringing some special contribution to the communal table, a great “L” set out under the shade on the church lawn (or bare earth).
You can see a woman in white leading the way, carrying a basket that seems filled with yellow corn or cakes. Behind her, other women line up to present their contributions. Surely it will be a feast, and for a more food-centric description of a church supper, see Edna Lewis’s “Revival Sunday Dinner” in The Taste of Country Cooking (1977).
Also, William Clary’s Dinner on the Grounds, Marion Post Wolcott’s tables for St. Thomas’s Church picnic, and Paul Sample’s church supper.
Featured image: Nell Choate Jones. Church Supper (1945c.), oil on canvas. Greenville Museum of Art, Greenville, South Carolina.