(AURN News) — Clarence B. Jones, one of the architects of the civil rights movement, has died at 95, according to The New York Times.
Jones was far more than a footnote in history. He was Martin Luther King Jr.’s lawyer, confidant, fundraiser, strategist and speechwriter.
He also helped plan the 1963 March on Washington and drafted portions of what became King’s legendary “I Have a Dream” speech.
During the Birmingham campaign, Jones also helped smuggle out King’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail,” which was written on scraps of paper and newspaper margins.
His work stretched from civil rights litigation, including New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, to investigating the Attica prison uprising.
In 2024, former President Joe Biden awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Jones lived much of his life behind the scenes, but his fingerprints are all over American history. Rest in peace, Clarence B. Jones.
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