Nationwide — Clarence B. Jones, who worked closely with Martin Luther King Jr. and helped write the “I Have A Dream” speech, has died at 95. He played a key role in the Civil Rights Movement as a lawyer, adviser, and speechwriter.
He died Friday at a senior living community in Cupertino, California, according to CNN. His family said he was surrounded by loved ones and remembered as someone guided by conscience and a belief in the power of ideas. He is survived by five children and his longtime partner, Lin Walters.
Jones worked as King’s attorney and trusted adviser during the critical years of the Civil Rights Movement. He helped refine major speeches, including parts of the 1963 March on Washington address and the 1967 “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence” speech. He also helped protect and distribute King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” while King was imprisoned.
He was born on January 8, 1931, in Philadelphia. His parents worked as domestic workers for a Quaker family in New Jersey. He stood out early as a student, becoming valedictorian at an integrated high school in Palmyra and showing strong skills in public speaking. He later studied at Columbia University, served in the U.S. Army, and earned his law degree from Boston University.
In 1960, Martin Luther King Jr. invited Jones to join his legal team during a tax case in Alabama. Jones left his legal work in California and moved to New York to work closely with King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He later joined the legal team in the landmark 1964 Supreme Court case New York Times v. Sullivan, which strengthened protections for press freedom in the United States.
After King was assassinated in 1968, Jones moved into business and academia. He worked at a Wall Street investment firm and became the first Black American to be named an allied member of the New York Stock Exchange. He later taught law at the University of San Francisco, helped launch the Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice, and served as a scholar in residence at Stanford University’s King Institute.
Jones published his memoir, Last of the Lions: An African American Journey in Memoir, in 2023. In 2024, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He also appeared in a documentary about his life and work with King that premiered at Sundance and is set for wider release.