{"id":3549,"date":"2026-05-26T23:39:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T23:39:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/2026\/05\/26\/clarence-b-jones-who-helped-mlk-write-i-have-a-dream-speech-dies-at-95\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T23:39:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T23:39:38","slug":"clarence-b-jones-who-helped-mlk-write-i-have-a-dream-speech-dies-at-95","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/?p=3549","title":{"rendered":"Clarence B Jones, who helped MLK write \u2018I have a dream\u2019 speech, dies at 95"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"border-color:var(--article-border);background-color:var(--article-inner-background)\" class=\"dcr-wqti5a\">\n<div class=\"dcr-2zxs1v\">\n<div style=\"--grid-area:media\" data-gu-name=\"media\" class=\"dcr-1fnjjtg\">\n<div class=\"dcr-14emo0l\">\n<div class=\"dcr-tr9ye5\">\n<figure id=\"dbd13bbf-11ad-46a0-b21c-eaef84044e28\" class=\"dcr-142siv7\">\n<div id=\"img-1\" class=\"dcr-1t8m8f2\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Dr Clarence B Jones in a navy blazer and glasses sits outdoors smiling, with lush greenery behind him\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/a4a433c59aefb340002b44c38f3e11cbc775c9c8\/0_0_8256_5504\/master\/8256.jpg?width=465&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" width=\"465\" height=\"310\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"dcr-evn1e9\"><span class=\"dcr-v822l1\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-gup2gr\">\n<div class=\"dcr-fntg6k\"><label for=\"the-checkbox\" class=\"dcr-1xgwz8b\"><\/label> <\/p>\n<div id=\"the-caption\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1os51wo\"><span class=\"dcr-hvsf4t\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1qvd3m6\">Clarence B Jones photographed in Boston in August 2023.<\/span> Photograph: Nine Acre Photography\/The Guardian<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><a href=\"#img-1\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-13fd1ms\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><button data-element-id=\"dbd13bbf-11ad-46a0-b21c-eaef84044e28\" type=\"button\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-4tmywn\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><span class=\"dcr-194i6pr\">View image in fullscreen<\/span><\/button><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"dcr-n4pnam\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1hdkqum\"><span class=\"dcr-hvsf4t\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1qvd3m6\">Clarence B Jones photographed in Boston in August 2023.<\/span> Photograph: Nine Acre Photography\/The Guardian<\/figcaption><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:border\" data-gu-name=\"border\" class=\"dcr-1fnjjtg\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:headline\" data-gu-name=\"headline\" class=\"dcr-1fnjjtg\">\n<div class=\"dcr-14emo0l\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1aqe7zu\">\n<h1 class=\"dcr-1k1a1x\">Clarence B Jones, who helped MLK write \u2018I have a dream\u2019 speech, dies at 95<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:standfirst\" data-gu-name=\"standfirst\" class=\"dcr-1fnjjtg\">\n<div class=\"dcr-15in7js\">\n<p>Attorney, speechwriter and confidante of King was involved in some of US civil rights movement\u2019s key moments<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:body\" data-gu-name=\"body\" class=\"dcr-kn9unn\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1a4fred\">\n<div id=\"maincontent\" class=\"dcr-ydnaza\">\n<div class=\"article-body-commercial-selector article-body-viewer-selector dcr-1c9t5u6\">\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Clarence B Jones, a former speechwriter and confidante of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/martin-luther-king\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">Martin Luther King<\/a> who helped pen his famous \u201cI have a dream\u201d speech, has died. He was 95.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Jones died on Friday at a senior living community in the San Francisco Bay Area suburb of Cupertino, according to a statement released by family members, who were at his side.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cOur father lived a life of conscience,\u201d the Jones family said. \u201cHe believed, until his final days, that an idea [is] more powerful than the march of any army. We are grateful beyond words for the love, the prayers, and the friendships that sustained him, and us, across this long and remarkable life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">As King\u2019s personal attorney, Jones was heavily involved in some of the key moments of the civil rights movement. He is credited with smuggling pages of King\u2019s \u201cLetter from Birmingham jail\u201d out of his cell and writing many up until King\u2019s assassination in 1968.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">He helped craft King\u2019s 1967 \u201cBeyond Vietnam: a time to break silence\u201d address given at Riverside church in New York exactly a year before King\u2019s death. It was considered a hallmark speech for King\u2019s condemnation of the Vietnam war and US militarism in general. He argued that the US\u2019s participation in the war exacerbated poverty across the country<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Born on 8 January 1931 in Philadelphia, Jones had parents who were domestic workers for a wealthy Quaker family several miles away in New Jersey, according to the Clarence B Jones Institute for Social Advocacy. Jones was class valedictorian of an integrated high school in Palmyra, New Jersey. His knack for speechwriting became apparent in 1949, when he gave a graduation speech about breaking down racial barriers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Jones went on to graduate from Columbia University in New York. He then was drafted by the US army but was honorably discharged almost two years later. He went on to earn a law degree from Boston University.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">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 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/california\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">California<\/a> and moved his family to New York. 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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">He was a member of the legal team on the 1964 case New York Times v Sullivan. The nation\u2019s highest court overturned a libel case against the newspaper, which had run an ad condemning police treatment of civil rights demonstrators in Montgomery, Alabama.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">After King\u2019s death, Jones worked 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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">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\u2019s Martin Luther King Jr Research and Education Institute.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Jones published a book about those years with King in 2023 titled Last of the Lions: an African American Journey in Memoir.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The following year he received the nation\u2019s highest civilian award, the presidential medal of freedom, from Joe Biden. A few weeks later, a tearful Jones appeared at a San Francisco Giants baseball game with Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. Curry has produced and co-directed a short documentary on Jones.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The Baddest Speechwriter of All won an award at the Sundance festival in January and will stream on Netflix later this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Jones is survived by his five children and longtime partner Lin Walters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Plans for funeral services and a public celebration of life are still being finalized.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-print-layout=\"hide\" class=\"dcr-qxqnsy\"><span class=\"dcr-1rq3vad\">Explore more on these topics<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-1dzx48f\">\n<ul class=\"dcr-1rrvs2w\">\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/us-news\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">US news<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/martin-luther-king\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">Martin Luther King<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/west-coast\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">West Coast<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/california\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">California<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/tone\/news\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">news<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dcr-nu129i\"><a href=\"mailto:?subject=Clarence%20B%20Jones,%20who%20helped%20MLK%20write%20%E2%80%98I%20have%20a%20dream%E2%80%99%20speech,%20dies%20at%2095&amp;body=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/may\/26\/clarence-b-jones-martin-luther-king?CMP=share_btn_url\" class=\"dcr-125qj9d\">Share<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-zhx6xs\"><a data-link-name=\"meta-syndication-article\" href=\"https:\/\/syndication.theguardian.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2026%2Fmay%2F26%2Fclarence-b-jones-martin-luther-king&amp;type=article&amp;internalpagecode=us-news\/2026\/may\/26\/clarence-b-jones-martin-luther-king\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"Reuse this content\" class=\"dcr-14rjinq\">Reuse this content<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:right-column\" data-gu-name=\"right-column\" class=\"dcr-1h2hraq\">\n<div class=\"dcr-tn16h9\">\n<section class=\"dcr-1hko8ef\"><\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Clarence B Jones photographed in Boston in August 2023. Photograph: Nine Acre Photography\/The Guardian View image in fullscreen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3551,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}