LDF Honors the Life and Legacy of Clarence B. Jones, Former Board Member and Pioneering Civil Rights Force

Read a PDF of our statement here.

The Legal Defense Fund (LDF) honors the life and legacy of Clarence B. Jones, a legendary civil rights attorney and strategist, former LDF Board member, and trusted adviser of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose legal brilliance and unwavering commitment to racial justice throughout his illustrious career helped shape the civil rights movement. Mr. Jones passed away on May 22, in Cupertino, California. He was 95 years old.

LDF Associate Director-Counsel Todd A. Cox issued the following statement:

"With heavy hearts yet profound gratitude, we honor the life and legacy of Mr. Clarence B. Jones, a towering figure in the civil rights movement and friend to many. Mr. Jones was a brilliant architect of justice whose legal acumen and mastery of language helped shape the moral and constitutional arc of our nation. He played an indispensable role in advancing the fight for racial equality, helping to craft some of the most defining words and strategy of the civil rights era. Through his intellect, conviction, and selfless pledge to pursuing justice, Mr. Jones used the power of law and persuasion to expand the boundaries of our nation's multiracial democracy and ensure that its promises would not be made in vain.

"Mr. Jones' lasting footprint on our nation's multiracial democracy cannot be overstated. We extend our deepest condolences to Mr. Jones' family and loved ones during this time. While we are profoundly saddened by this loss, Mr. Jones' legacy will live on through the countless lives his advocacy has touched."

Born in Philadelphia in 1931 to parents who worked as domestic servants, Mr. Jones rose to become one of the nation's most influential civil rights lawyers and public intellectuals. After graduating from Columbia University and Boston University School of Law, Mr. Jones built a successful legal career before answering Dr. King's call to join the movement for racial justice.

During the civil rights movement, Mr. Jones served as personal counsel, confidant, and speechwriter to Dr. King during many of its most consequential moments, playing a central role in helping draft Dr. King's historic "I Have a Dream" speech and assisting in preserving and transmitting the "Letter from Birmingham Jail."

Mr. Jones served as an LDF Board Member from 1972 to 1976 and partnered with LDF on various cases over the years, including Carp v. Eaton and Anderson v. City Albany.

Beyond his work in the civil rights movement, Mr. Jones became the first Black allied member of the New York Stock Exchange and also served as the principal owner and publisher of the New York Amsterdam News. Mr. Jones later dedicated his life to teaching, mentorship, and public scholarship, serving as a university professor and author. In 2024, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.

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Founded in 1940, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) is the nation's first civil rights legal organization. LDF has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957, though it was founded under the leadership of Thurgood Marshall while he was at the NAACP. LDF's Thurgood Marshall Institute (TMI) is a division of LDF that undertakes innovative research and houses LDF's archive. In all media attributions, please refer to us as the Legal Defense Fund or LDF (do ot include NAACP) and refer to the Institute as LDF's Thurgood Marshall Institute or TMI.