CUPERTINO, Calif. – Clarence B. Jones, renowned for his pivotal role as a speechwriter and advisor to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., has passed away at the age of 95. Jones was instrumental in crafting the iconic “I Have A Dream” speech.
Jones’s family confirmed he died on Friday at a senior living facility in Cupertino, a suburb in the San Francisco Bay Area. They were by his side during his final moments, according to a family statement.
“Our father lived a principled life,” the Jones family shared on Tuesday. “He firmly believed, even until his last days, in the enduring power of an idea over any military force. We are profoundly thankful for all the love, prayers, and friendships that supported him and us throughout his extraordinary life.”
In his role as King’s personal attorney, Jones was deeply involved in many pivotal events of the Civil Rights Movement. He notably smuggled out the pages of King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and contributed extensively to King’s writings until his assassination in 1968.
Jones played a significant role in crafting King’s 1967 speech “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence” delivered at Riverside Church in New York. This speech marked a critical moment in King’s vocal opposition to the Vietnam War and broader U.S. military actions, highlighting how the war aggravated poverty across America.
Born on January 8, 1931, in Philadelphia, Jones was raised by parents who worked as domestic servants for a wealthy Quaker family in New Jersey. According to the Clarence B. Jones Institute for Social Advocacy, he excelled academically, graduating as valedictorian from an integrated high school in Palmyra, New Jersey. His talent for speechwriting was evident early on, as he delivered a compelling graduation address in 1949 focused on dismantling racial discrimination.
Jones went on to graduate from Columbia University in New York. He then was drafted by the U.S. Army but was honorably discharged almost two years later. He went on to earn a law degree from Boston University.
In 1960, in what would be the start of a seminal friendship, Jones was approached by King to be on his legal team in a tax evasion case brought by the state of Alabama. Jones pivoted from a career in entertainment law in California and moved his family to New York City. There he could be closer to King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and serve as a full-time adviser, attorney and speechwriter for him.
He was a member of the legal team on the 1964 case New York Times v. Sullivan. The nation’s highest court overturned a libel case against the newspaper, which had run an ad condemning police treatment of civil rights demonstrators in Montgomery, Alabama.
After King’s death, Jones went on to work for a Wall Street investment banking firm and became the first Black American with the designation of allied member of the New York Stock Exchange.
He later ventured into academia. In 2012, he joined the faculty at the University of San Francisco where he taught law students as well as undergraduates in courses such as “From Slavery to Obama.” In 2018, he co-founded the Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice at the school. Around the same time, he also became a scholar-in-residence at Stanford University’s Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute.
Jones published a book about those years with King in 2023 titled “Last of the Lions: An African American Journey in Memoir.”
The following year he received the nation’s highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, from then-President Joe Biden. A few weeks later, a tearful Jones appeared at a San Francisco Giants baseball game with Golden State Warriors basketball star Stephen Curry to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. Curry has produced and co-directed a short documentary on Jones.
“The Baddest Speechwriter of All” won an award at the Sundance Film Festival in January and will stream on Netflix later this year.
Jones is survived by his five children and longtime partner Lin Walters.
Plans for funeral services and a public celebration of life are still being finalized.
