Palmyra, New Jersey 08065
(856) 220-6298
January 8, 1931
January 8, 1931
Clarence Benjamin Jones born in Philadelphia, PA
1940
January 1, 1940
Jones placed with the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament founded by Katharine Drexel in 1889. It was a boarding school for “Indians and Colored People.”
1944
January 1, 1944
Hedgepeth–Williams vs BOE, Trenton, NJ New Jersey Supreme Court decision; a precursor to the Brown v. Board of Education case that prohibited racial segregation of school systems throughout the United States.
1945
January 1, 1945
Jones returns to Riverton, NJ and is enrolled at Palmyra High School, a public school that was integrated since its inception.
1949
June 17, 1949
Jones graduates from Palmyra High School. He is voted as most likely to succeed and delivers a commencement speech called ‘Education for a Better World.”
1949
June 30, 1949
Receives a four-year scholarship to attend Columbia University.
1953 (Spring)
June 1, 1953
Graduates from Columbia with a BA degree
1953 (Summer)
July 1, 1953
Drafted into the Army, serves 21 months and receives an honorable discharge.
1956
August 1, 1956
Enrolls in Boston University School of Law.
1959
June 1, 1959
Obtains Bachelor of Laws degree then moves California and becomes an entertainment lawyer.
1960
January 1, 1960
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. asks Jones to join the legal team that was defending Dr. King against a criminal indictment by the State of Alabama alleging tax evasion. Jones accepts and becomes Dr. King’s personal attorney, political advisor, and draft speechwriter.
1962
January 1, 1962
Jones’ father dies and Dr. Kings speaks at the funeral held at tiny Mt. Zion AME Church in Riverton, NJ.
1963 (April)
April 1, 1963
While Dr. King is imprisoned in an Alabama jail, someone smuggled in a newspaper which contained a statement made by eight white Alabama clergymen against King and his methods of nonviolent resistance against racism. This agitated King and he writes a response in the margins of the newspaper itself, using scraps of toilet tissue and writing paper supplied by Jones who would then deliver the message to the civil rights headquarters. Later these writings were published as “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”
1963 (August 27)
August 27, 1963
Dr. Jones organizes Dr. Kings’ thoughts, ideas, and concepts into a written speech that would be used for the March on Washington event…the “I Have A Dream Speech.”
1963 (August 28)
August 28, 1963
March on Washington.
1967
January 1, 1967
At age 36, Jones becomes the first African-American to be named an allied member of the New York Stock Exchange after joining an investment banking and brokerage firm of Carter, Berlind & Weill where he worked alongside future Citigroup Chairman and CEO, Sanford I. Weill and Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman, Arthur Levitt.
April 4, 1968
April 4, 1968
The assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
1971
January 1, 1971
Jones serves as one of the negotiators during the prison riot at Attica. During the same year, Jones also becomes part owner and editor of the New York Amsterdam News.
2008
January 1, 2008
Jones co-authors the book “What Would Martin Say?”
2011
January 1, 2011
Jones authors “Behind the Dream: The Making of the Speech That Transformed A Nation”.
2012
January 1, 2012
Developed the “From Slavery to Obama’ college course for grad students at Stanford University and undergrads at the University of San Francisco.
2015
January 1, 2015
February – Honored by President Barack Obama at the White House Oval Office.
2017
October 1, 2017
The library at Palmyra High School is renamed “Clarence B. Jones Library”. Additionally, in 2017, the Dr. Clarence B. Jones Institute for Social Advocacy is founded.