Clarence B. Jones, a civil rights lawyer and close advisor to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who helped organize the 1963 March on Washington and helped draft King’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech, has died. He was 95 years old.
Jones’ son, Clarence Jr., confirmed Jones’ death to the New York Times on May 25, stating that he died at a nursing home in Cupertino, California. The University of San Francisco, where Jones was co-founder of the school’s Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice, announced that Jones died on May 22.
From 1960 to 1968, Jones served as King’s legal and strategic advisor, helping draft major speeches, including the opening portion of his “I Have a Dream” speech, and advising King on key decisions during the civil rights movement, according to the Leadership Alliance. He also played a role in coordinating the March on Washington, one of the largest civil rights demonstrations in U.S. history.
During the 1963 Birmingham Campaign, Jones provided important legal and strategic support to King. After King’s arrest, Jones secretly smuggled a handwritten response from prison to a local clergyman, which was distributed as “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Jones also traveled to New York to solicit funds from then-Dr. King and helped secure bail for King and other imprisoned protesters. Nelson Rockefeller.
In the decades following Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in 1968, Jones remained active in promoting nonviolent social change. Jones brings that experience to academia, teaching and mentoring students at both the University of San Francisco and Stanford University.
In 2018, Jones co-founded the Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice to “promote the teachings and strategies of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi in response to the moral exigencies of the 21st century,” according to the institute’s website. In 2024, President Joe Biden awarded Jones the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
Civil rights attorney and key advisor to Dr. King
Jones was born in Philadelphia in 1931 to parents who were domestic workers and grew up in foster homes and boarding schools in New England, according to Stanford University’s Martin Luther King Jr. Institute for Research and Education. After attending Columbia University and earning a law degree from Boston University in the 1950s, he began a career in entertainment law before shifting his focus to the civil rights movement.
In 1960, Jones joined Dr. King’s defense team in a high-profile Alabama perjury and fraud trial. He then returned to New York and became an attorney for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).
Within SCLC, Jones held key legal and strategic roles and served as general counsel for the organization’s fundraising arm, the Gandhi Society for Human Rights. He also coordinated the legal defense of Mr. King and other SCLC leaders, including involvement in the case that led to the landmark Supreme Court decision in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, which restructured U.S. defamation law.
In 1963, Jones drafted a settlement agreement between the city of Birmingham and Martin Luther King Jr. to “bring an end to demonstrations and the desegregation of department stores and public accommodations,” according to his bio on the University of San Francisco’s website.
Mr. Jones’ responsibilities extended beyond legal strategy. He advised King on political decisions, helped shape the movement’s message, and became a trusted member of King’s inner circle.
“Many of us owe a great debt to Clarence Jones.”
News of his death prompted tributes from public servants and civil rights leaders who remembered Jones as a central figure in the civil rights movement.
Janay Nelson, president, director and general counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, called Jones a “legend” whose work as a lawyer, speechwriter, editor, scholar and confidant of Dr. King left an indelible mark. In a post on
The Rev. Al Sharpton, a prominent civil rights activist and social justice activist, said Jones was a mentor and a friend. He described Jones as a “great strategist, lawyer, author and philanthropist.”
“Many of us owe a great debt to Clarence Jones,” Sharpton said in a statement on social media.
The King Center also paid tribute to Jones’ legacy, calling him a “respected and beloved elder.” The King Center said Jones was one of King’s “trusted legal and strategic advisors.”
“We are grateful for his life and work for justice and civil rights,” the King Center said in a statement on social media. Our hearts go out to his family and our prayers go out to his loved ones.
Congressman Richie Torres (D-N.Y.) described Jones as a “hero of the civil rights movement” and a “moral giant,” emphasizing his role as a close ally of Martin Luther King Jr.
“Clarence Jones is one of the greatest heroes I have ever met. Being able to know a moral giant on whose shoulders so many of us stand is a gift from God that I will cherish for the rest of my life. Dr. Jones didn’t just practice law. He changed the law, and we are all better because of it,” Torres said in a post on X.
University of San Francisco President Salvador Aceves called Jones “a figure at the center of history.”
“Clarence generously shared his wisdom, courage and moral vision with our university community,” Aceves said in a statement.
