Louis Clayton Jones

Louis Clayton Jones (November 13, 1935 – January 9, 2006) was an American international attorney and civil rights leader. An outspoken proponent for equal rights, he was a founder of the National Conference of Black Lawyers.

For other people named Lou Jones, see Lou Jones (disambiguation).

Background

A native of Lexington, Kentucky, Jones received a bachelor's degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C., from which he graduated summa cum laude in 1957 with majors in Philosophy and French. In 1956, he was inducted into the membership of Phi Beta Kappa and in 1957 was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship for study in France at the Sorbonne and the University of Bordeaux, where he studied political science and French literature. In 1958 he received a John Hay Whitney Fellowship and was accepted for admission to Yale Law School. He graduated in 1961.

In the mid-1980s, he played a prominent role as counsel to the family of Michael Stewart, a 25-year-old Brooklyn man arrested for scrawling graffiti in a subway station at First Avenue and 14th Street in Manhattan. While in police custody Stewart received injuries that would later be the cause of his death. The police officers were charged with brutality but acquitted. A former law partner with David Dinkins, Mr. Jones sometimes criticized Black public officials. In a letter published in the New York Times (August 8, 1986), he chastised former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young for the ex-U.N. Ambassador's letter to Bishop Desmond Tutu (Op-Ed, July 27) in support of the Administration's approach to economic sanctions against South Africa. He worked internationally helping to develop the government of Liberia and managing financial affairs for First Investment Capital Corporation, a Paris-based subsidiary of Al-Anwae Trading Company of Saudi Arabia.

He was the publisher of The New African and The Cyber-Drum, an Internet Web site that included daily coverage of and commentary on the most important events affecting African and Developing World people.

Obituaries
  • Black Star News, January 12, 2006.
  • The Amsterdam News, January 11, 2006.
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