Minnie Lee Jones was born in Schaal, Howard County, Arkansas on August 13, 1933. In college, she changed her name to Joycelyn.
Elders graduated from Philander Smith College with a biology degree before enlisting in the US Army in 1953 and worked as a physical therapist in the Army Medical Specialist Corps for three years.
Elders graduated from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in 1960 and completed her internship in pediatrics at the University of Minnesota. In 1976 she joined the faculty at UAMS as a professor of pediatrics. She became Arkansas's Director of Public Health in 1987. Elders was appointed the 16th Surgeon General of the United States in 1993. In 1994 she returned to UAMS as a pediatrics professor.
#1: Composite image of early photo of Joycelyn Elders and still frame from Pryor Center video interview
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#2: Family photo of Joycelyn Elders (front row, left) with her mother (front row, right) holding her baby brother, Chester, and her father (back row, third from right), California, 1940s
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#3: Curtis and Haller Jones, parents of Joycelyn Elders
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#4: Joycelyn Elders, age fifteen, when she was headed to college, 1948-1949
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#5: Joycelyn Elders as a pediatric intern, at an event at the University of Minnesota, 1960-1961
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#6: Joycelyn Elders as an intern
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#7: Joycelyn Elders at a physical therapy class at Brooke Army Medical Center, 1953
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#8: Joycelyn Elders with the physical therapy team at Brooke Army Medical Center
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#9: Joycelyn Elders in a hospital nursery
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#10: Ted Panos, the doctor who hired Joycelyn Elders to be the chief resident at the University of Arkansas Medical Center
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#11: Joycelyn Elders, 1975
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#12: Joycelyn Elders and her son, Eric
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#13: Minnie Jones, paternal grandmother of Joycelyn Elders
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#14: Joycelyn Elders's family playing cards at a picnic
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#15: Joycelyn Elders receiving the Daisy Bates Award at Eta Phi Beta's Founder's Day at the Capitol Hill Building with Ms. Wilkerson, president of the Gammu Nu chapter of Eta Phi Beta sorority, May 7, 1989
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#16: Joycelyn Elders
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#17: Joycelyn Elders
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#18: Joycelyn Elders with Senator Ted Kennedy during her confirmation hearings for Surgeon General
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#19: Joycelyn Elders being sworn in as Surgeon General of the United States with Donna Shalala on the left, her husband on the right, and her brother, Chester, as the minister
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#20: Joycelyn Elders speaking to a mother with her baby
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#21: Joycelyn Elders with hospital staff
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#22: Joycelyn Elders at a press conference
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#23: Joycelyn Elders as the Surgeon General of the United States talking to a boy during a hospital tour with the press
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#24: Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#25: Joycelyn Elders as the Surgeon General of the United States
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#26: Joycelyn Elders with Bill Maher on his television show, Politically Incorrect
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#27: Joycelyn Elders with the officers from the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#28: Joycelyn Elders
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#29: Joycelyn Elders, Surgeon General of the United States
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#30: Signed portrait of Joycelyn Elders
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#31: Joycelyn Elders
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#32: Kevin Elders, son of Joycelyn Elders, at his graduation, age 25
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#33: Oliver and Joycelyn Elders
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#34: Joycelyn and Oliver Elders with their son, Kevin, at his MBA graduation from Grambling State University, 1990
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#35: Chester Jones, brother of Joycelyn Elders
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#36: Joycelyn Elders
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#37: Joycelyn Elders at the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame induction of her husband, Oliver
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#38: Joycelyn Elders at her induction as an Inaugural Hall of Fame member at the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#39: Joycelyn and Oliver Elders
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#40: Joycelyn Elders and her husband, Oliver, with Harry Ward at her induction into the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences Hall of Fame
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#41: Joycelyn Elders at a nursery
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#42: Joycelyn Elders with her son and husband holding the National High School Sports Hall of Fame award
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#43: Joycelyn Elders speaking at the American Health Information Management Association
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#44: Joycelyn Elders's sisters, Beryl and Pat, and brother, Chester, July 1999
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#45: Joycelyn Elders with a patient at Arkansas Children's Hospital, 1995
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#46: Joycelyn Elders and University of Arkansas Medical Sciences chancellor, Harry Ward, at her retirement from UAMS, 1998
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#47: Joycelyn Elders with her husband, Oliver, and their son
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#48: Behind-the-scenes photo from Pryor Center interview with Joycelyn Elders; Little Rock, Arkansas, 2008
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#49: Behind-the-scenes photo from Pryor Center interview with Joycelyn Elders; Little Rock, Arkansas, 2008
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#50: Behind-the-scenes photo from Pryor Center interview with Joycelyn Elders; Little Rock, Arkansas, 2008
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#51: Behind-the-scenes photo from Pryor Center interview with Joycelyn Elders; Little Rock, Arkansas, 2008
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#52: Still frame from Pryor Center video interview with Joycelyn Elders; Little Rock, Arkansas, 2008
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#53: Still frame from Pryor Center video interview with Joycelyn Elders; Little Rock, Arkansas, 2008
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
