RIP, Mr. Jones

Reverend Al Sharpton
@TheRevAl
I’m saddened by the news of the passing of Attorney Clarence Jones, Dr. King’s attorney and a mentor and friend to me. He was a brilliant strategist, lawyer, author, and philanthropist. So many of us owe a great debt to Clarence Jones.

“Clarence B. Jones, a confidant, lawyer and speechwriter for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights struggles of the 1960s, who helped plan the March on Washington and drafted part of Dr. King’s celebrated “I Have a Dream” speech, died on Friday in Cupertino, Calif. He was 95.

His death, at an assisted-living facility, was confirmed by his son, Clarence Jr.
A brilliant organizer and a member of Dr. King’s inner circle, Mr. Jones planned protest campaigns; raised funds for Dr. King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference; and coordinated legal strategies to challenge discriminatory laws, defend arrested demonstrators and fight lawsuits against their leaders.

He was one of the lawyers who represented four Black ministers in a seminal case of libel law, The New York Times v. Sullivan, in which the United States Supreme Court held that a public official could not win damages for criticism of his official performance without proving that published statements were made with deliberate malice. It was a landmark victory for the constitutional guarantee of freedom of the press, and cleared the way for reporting on widespread disorder and civil rights infringements in the South without fear of libel actions.

It was also a clarifying victory for civil rights leaders. “We regarded the suit as an effort to politically discredit the leadership of the direct action civil rights movement of Dr. King,” Mr. Jones told law students at the University of San Francisco in 2012. “The political objective of the lawsuit was to bankrupt and decapitate the civil rights leadership.

The many-sided Mr. Jones was at various times a California entertainment lawyer, the first Black partner…” – full article via https://nytimes.com/2026/05/25/us/clarence-b-jones-dead.html

#RIP
#ClarenceBJones

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center
@TheKingCenter
An esteemed, beloved elder is now an ancestor.

Clarence B. Jones, among Dr. King’s trusted legal counsels and strategic advisors, has passed.

We are grateful for his life and his work in the interest of justice and Civil Rights.

Our hearts go out to his family and our prayers go up on behalf of his loved ones.
Photo: Clarence B. Jones standing above Dr. King with paper and pen in hand.

#ClarenceBJones #MLK #AmongTheAncestors #TheKingCenter
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