Clarence B. Jones, Founding Director Emeritus of the University of San Francisco Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice, Honored with Presidential Medal of Freedom
SAN FRANCISCO (May 7, 2024) – Civil rights activist Clarence B. Jones, founding director emeritus of the University of San Francisco (USF) Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice, was awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, on May 3 by President Joe Biden, recognizing Jones’ lifelong commitment to social justice and his work with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
“Professor Clarence Jones has spent his life supporting and furthering the work of his friend the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and Clarence brought that legacy to USF, where he has been a leader in the fight against hate,” said USF President Paul J. Fitzgerald, S.J. “We are proud of him and grateful for his work as founder of USF’s Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice.”
Jones, 93, was a friend, adviser, and lawyer to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. from 1960 to 1968, when King was assassinated. In 1963, Jones assisted King in drafting the “I Have a Dream” speech that the civil rights leader delivered that August at the March on Washington. Throughout the Civil Rights era, Jones played a pivotal role as one of King’s inner circle of advisers, along with former Atlanta mayor and UN ambassador Andrew Young and political activist Jesse Jackson. Jones and Young came together in February 2021 for a USF discussion on civil and social unrest.
Last year, Jones published a book about his time with King, Last of the Lions: An African American Journey in Memoir.
Jonathan Greenberg, co-founder of the USF Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice, accompanied Jones to the White House ceremony and said, “Dr. Jones has never wavered in his dedication to further Dr. King’s legacy of nonviolence and social justice.”
About the Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice at the University of San Francisco
The Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice is the leading university-based research, teaching, and advocacy institute dedicated to investigating and furthering radical nonviolence in the context of Jesuit community-based service education, interfaith activism for racial and environmental justice, democracy, and peace, and the intergenerational legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
About the University of San Francisco
The University of San Francisco is a private, Jesuit Catholic university that reflects the diversity, optimism, and opportunities of the city that surrounds it. USF offers more than 230 undergraduate, graduate, professional, and certificate programs in the arts and sciences, business, law, education, and nursing and health professions. At USF, each course is an intimate learning community in which top professors encourage students to turn learning into positive action, so the students graduate equipped to do well in the world — and inspired to change it for the better. For more information, visit usfca.edu.