Biographies: Clarence B. Jones - Actor

Biographies

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Clarence B. Jones is the former personal counsel, advisor, draft speech writer, and close friend of Martin Luther King Jr. Also, he is a Scholar in Residence at the Martin Luther King Jr. Institute at Stanford University and the author of "What Would Martin Say?" (2008). Jones was born on January 8, 1931, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to parents who worked as domestic workers. He grew up in a foster home and studied at a boarding school in New England. Later on, he relocated with his family to Palmyra, New Jersey, and graduated from Palmyra High School. He received his BA from Columbia College in 1953. After graduating, he was drafted into the United States Army in 1953 and spent nearly two years at Fort Dix for refusing to sign a loyalty oath. He started attending Boston University School of Law in 1956, earning a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1959. He and his wife, Anne, relocated to Altadena, California, where Jones established a practice in entertainment law. Moreover, he was the first African American to be named an allied member of the New York Stock Exchange. Jones appeared as himself in '51 Dons (2014), Attica (1974), and Shared Legacies (2020).

• 15 September 2022
• Dalia Saad