Solomon Napoleon Jacobs was a committed activist who represented the church during the Civil Rights Movement. Born in Panama City, Panama in 1920, he graduated from Bishop Payne Divinity School and was ordained to the diaconate in 1948 and to the priesthood in 1949. During his pastoral career, he presided as rector of churches in Panama, Nicaragua, Omaha, Nebraska (1952-1958), Cleveland, Ohio (1958-1970), and Washington, D.C. (1970-1974). From 1972 until his retirement from active ministry in 1985, he served as chaplain supervisor at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Washington, D.C..

During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, Jacobs participated in voter registration and school integration protests in Hattiesburg, Mississippi and Atlanta, Georgia. He was also active with church-based activist organizations including the Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity (ESCRU) and the Union of Black Episcopalians (UBE) among others.

Jacobs spent his retirement as an interim priest of the Diocese of Washington and as part-time associate clergy at the Washington National Cathedral (1995-1998). As a chaplain, he served at the Cathedral and at the Washington Hospital Center. In 2000, Jacobs received an Honorary Doctorate from Virginia Theological Seminary.