05/28/2026
Clarence B. Jones, a top civil rights activist and lawyer who was a companion of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr, has died. He was 95.
Jones was one of the organizers of the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered the epic speech and helped push for passage of the Voting Rights Act two years later, which lifted legal barriers preventing African Americans from voting.
Until his death Friday at an assisted living facility in Cupertino, California, Jones remained a keeper of King’s legacy and a vocal critic of attempts to undermine the gains African Americans have made since the civil rights battles in the 1960s.
Just last month, Jones criticized President Donald Trump’s push to redraw congressional maps as an effort to weaken Black voting power.
“The problem is Trump is living in a world that doesn’t exist anymore,” Jones said in an appearance at the San Francisco International Film Festival. said Clarence B. Jones in his criticism towards U.S President Donald Trump.