https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/04/us/nathaniel-r-jones-dead.html
Nathaniel R. Jones, Rights Lawyer and Federal Judge, Dies at 93
As a voice of the N.A.A.C.P., he challenged school segregation in the North and racial bias in the military. But, he cautioned, the struggle is not over.
By Sam Roberts
Feb. 4, 2020
Nathaniel R. Jones, a former chief legal spokesman for the civil rights movement and later a federal appeals court judge who devoted his long career to eradicating the legacy of slavery endured by his own family, died on Jan. 26 at his home in Cincinnati. He was 93.
Stephanie Jones, his daughter, said the cause was congestive heart failure.
As the general counsel of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in the 1970s, Mr. Jones revealed unwelcome truths by challenging school segregation in the North and racial bias in the military justice system, in which, among other things, black defendants had complained of being unable to trust white lawyers. He was also a strong defender of affirmative action programs and other measures to address historic discrimination.
In 1976, Mr. Jones helped persuade Alabama officials, including Gov. George C. Wallace, to pardon Clarence Norris, the last surviving member of the Scottsboro Boys, the nine black teenagers falsely accused of raping two white women aboard a train near Scottsboro, Ala., in 1931.
A decade later, Mr. Jones was arrested in South Africa for protesting the country’s apartheid policies. He later helped draft the Constitution that ended that country’s system of legal racial segregation and advised emerging African nations in designing judicial systems.
In “Answering the Call: An Autobiography of the Modern Struggle to End Racial Discrimination in America” (2016), Mr. Jones acknowledged the civil rights gains that had been achieved in the United States in the more than 60 years since, as a college student, he sued an Ohio restaurant that refused to serve him because he was black. But he cautioned that it was “no time for celebration.”
“Strong and unrelenting efforts have been unleashed,” he wrote, “to place the nation once again under what N.A.A.C.P. leader Roy Wilkins once described as the ‘smothering blanket’ of states’ rights.”
His invitation to the White House in March 1979 for the 25th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education school integration decision turned into a personal celebration as well: President Jimmy Carter named him to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati. He retired from the bench in 2002.
In his book, Mr. Jones recalled being struck that his fellow judges had been “numb to the fact that the institutions that govern people’s lives are shaped by subjective factors tinged with racial and class stereotypes.”
“Even rarer,” he wrote, “were judges capable of rising above their own prior social and economic conditioning to apply principles of law in a neutral fashion.”
Nathaniel Raphael Jones was born on May 13, 1926, in Youngstown, Ohio. His parents had moved there from Virginia farm country a few years before to find better jobs and to send their children to racially integrated schools. His maternal great-grandparents and paternal grandparents were born into slavery.
His father, Nathaniel Bacon Jones, was a laborer in a steel mill. Laid off during the Depression, he took jobs as a window washer and janitor.
But the family still depended on relief, even as his mother, Lillian Isabelle (Brown) Jones, held a series of low-paying jobs: housemaid, laundress, ladies’ restroom attendant in a theater. She was eventually hired as the subscription manager for a black weekly newspaper founded by J. Maynard Dickerson, a civil rights lawyer and local N.A.A.C.P. leader who would become young Nate Jones’s mentor.
After serving in the Army Air Forces at the end of World War II, Mr. Jones enrolled in Youngstown College in his hometown. When white employees of DuRell’s Restaurant in suburban Austintown, Ohio, refused to serve him and a friend dinner in 1948 because of their race, he sued.
“‘The statute calls for judgment up to $400,’ DuRell’s lawyer wrote,” Mr. Jones recalled in “Answering the Call.” “‘If you make a demand for $300 or $350 we could probably avoid a trial.’ We settled the case for $300. After the attorney fees, only a little money was left, but I had made my point.”
A lawyer retained to defend the restaurant owner, Mr. Jones said, turned out to be the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan in Ohio.
Attending classes on the G.I. Bill, Mr. Jones graduated from Youngstown College with a bachelor’s degree in 1951 and earned a law degree from Youngstown University. (The two institutions are now collectively known as Youngstown State University.)
During the Kennedy administration, Mr. Jones was the first black person to be named assistant United States attorney for the Northern District of Ohio. Under President Lyndon B. Johnson, he was assistant general counsel to the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, known as the Kerner Commission, which famously concluded in its report, “Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white — separate and unequal.”
Roy Wilkins, the N.A.A.C.P.’s executive director, named Mr. Jones general counsel in 1969; he held the job for 10 years. After convincing the federal courts that separate but supposedly equal public schools were illegal and challenging racially segregated systems in the South, the N.A.A.C.P. began to file suits that exposed similar disparities in Northern cities.
In 1971, a federal judge found that Detroit’s schools had been deliberately segregated. But the United States Supreme Court later all but banned the busing of children between mostly black urban districts and mostly white suburban ones to achieve integration.
“The court has said to black people: ‘You have rights, but you don’t have a remedy,’” Mr. Jones said at the time.
He also coordinated the financially pressed N.A.A.C.P.’ s successful challenge of the awarding of $3.5 million in damages to white merchants in Mississippi who had been boycotted as a way to pressure local elected officials to put civil rights protections in place. The Supreme Court ruled in 1982 that “the boycott clearly involved constitutionally protected activity” through which the N.A.A.C.P. “sought to bring about political, social and economic change.”
After he left the bench, Mr. Jones became of counsel to the law firm Blank Rome and co-chairman of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, both in Cincinnati. In 2003 the new federal courthouse in Youngstown, a few blocks from where he was born, in the Smoky Hollow district, was renamed in his honor. In 2016 he received the N.A.A.C.P.’s highest honor, the Spingarn Medal.
He married Jean Graham Jones, a niece of W.E.B. Du Bois, a founder of the N.A.A.C.P., in 1958; she died the next year. His marriage to Jean Velez in 1964 ended in divorce in 1974. He married Lillian Hawthorne in 1975. She died in 2011.
In addition to his daughter, Stephanie, from his first marriage, he is survived by a stepdaughter, Pamela Velez, from his marriage to Ms. Velez; three stepsons, Marc, Rick and William Hawthorne; a sister, Allie Jean Wooten; and eight grandchildren.
Mr. Jones held to a simple but powerful credo. As he told The Cincinnati Enquirer in 2012, “The key to prevailing as a minority in a segregated, oppressive society is to not let the prevailing stereotypes define who you are.”
Sam Roberts, an obituaries reporter, was previously The Times’s urban affairs correspondent and is the host of “The New York Times Close Up,” a weekly news and interview program on CUNY-TV. @samrob12
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http://hosting-12821.tributes.com/show/108085953
Nathaniel Raphael Jones
May 13, 1926 - January 26, 2020
Cincinnati, Ohio
Judge Nathaniel Raphael Jones, loving father of William Hawthorne (D'Anna), Pamela Velez, Rick Hawthorne (Laura), Marc Hawthorne ( Celeste) and Stephanie Jones. .Passed Sunday, January 26, 2020 Age 93 years. Visitation on Wednesday, January 29, 2020 from 5:00 PM- until 8:00 PM at Corinthian Baptist Church, 1920 Tennessee Ave. Cincinnati, Ohio 45237 with a special Kappa Alpha Psi Memorial Service at 6:00pm. Also Visitation Thursday, January 30, 2020 from 10:00 AM until 12:00 PM at Corinthian Baptist Church with Full Military Services.
Special online condolences for family and friends may be expressed at http://www.jcbattleandsonsfuneralhome.com
His Life story:
The Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones, an internationally renowned retired federal judge, lawyer, and civil rights activist, was born in Youngstown, Ohio. His father worked in the steel city's steel mills and as a janitor. His mother was a homemaker and was employed as a domestic.
Judge Jones attended public school in Youngstown, Ohio and, after serving in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II, he received his undergraduate and law degrees at Youngstown State University through the G.I. Bill of Rights.
Judge Jones began his professional career as Executive Director of the Fair Employment Practices Commission of Youngstown, Ohio. A year after entering the general practice of law, he was the first African American appointed as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio in Cleveland.
In 1967, Judge Jones served as Assistant General Counsel to President Johnson's National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, also known as the Kerner Commission, which studied the causes of the urban riots of the Sixties. Afterward, Judge Jones returned to Youngstown to practice law as a founding partner in the law firm of Goldberg and Jones.
In 1969, NAACP Executive Director Roy Wilkins asked Jones to serve as the organization's General Counsel, a position he held from 1969 to 1979.
As General Counsel, Judge Jones coordinated the attack against northern school segregation, and twice argued the Detroit school case, Bradley v. Milliken before the U.S. Supreme Court. Judge Jones also spearheaded successful attacks against segregation in the nation's public schools across the country, directed the national response to the attacks against affirmative action, led an inquiry into discrimination against black servicemen in the military, and supervised the NAACP's defense in the Mississippi Boycott case, which led to a landmark Supreme Court decision that recognized the rights of individuals and organizations to engage in protests under the First Amendment.
Judge Jones was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit by President Carter in 1979 and served with great distinction for 23 years, publishing scores of opinions and law review articles of great significance, and serving on a number of government committees and special bodies.
In addition to his judicial duties, Judge Jones participated in a variety of activities, including serving as an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, instructor in the trial advocacy program at the Harvard Law School, and adjunct professor at the Criminal Law Institute of Atlanta University. Judge Jones has also lectured and judged moot court competitions at numerous law schools including Yale, New York University, and Georgetown. He is the holder of 17 honorary degrees.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Judge Jones played an important role in furthering the abolition of apartheid in South Africa. The drafters of South Africa's new constitution and laws consulted him, and he conferred with Nelson Mandela upon Mandela's release from 27 years of imprisonment.
Following his retirement from the Sixth Circuit in 2002, Judge Jones assumed a position as Of Counsel with Blank Rome LLP. He serves as honorary co-chair and director of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. He participates in a variety of other activities and has served as a member of the Toyota Motor Manufacturing, North America, Inc. Diversity Advisory Board, the KnowledgeWorks Foundation Board of Directors, and the Cincinnati Youth Collaborative Board of Directors.
Judge Jones has authored numerous articles and papers and has been the recipient of many honors and awards, including the prestigious 2002 Professionalism Award for the Sixth Circuit by the American Inns of Court; the 2002 Thurgood Marshall Award from the National Bar Association's Judicial Council, induction into the National Bar Association Hall of Fame, and in February 1997, he was recognized by the Chamber of Commerce as one of the "Great Living Cincinnatians."
Judge Jones memoir, Answering the Call: An Autobiography on the Modern Struggle to End Racial Segregation in America, published in 2016, is an extraordinary eyewitness account of the battle for racial equality in America. Judge Jones founded The Answering the Call to Justice Foundation in 2017 to provide new generations with the lessons and tools he learned in his long career so that they may continue the next leg of the journey toward racial justice in the twenty-first century.
On 2003, the Nathaniel R. Jones Federal Building and United States Courthouse opened in Youngstown, Ohio.
In 2016, Judge Jones was awarded the NAACP's 101st Spingarn Medal, the organization's highest honor, joining previous recipients that include U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Hank Aaron, and Oprah Winfrey.
Active and working until the end of his life, Jones made his final public appearance on November 14, 2019 at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center at a dinner tribute celebrating the renaming and re-launching of the Nathaniel R. Jones Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. Jones was a center co-founder in 2010.
Judge Jones was preceded in death by his wives Jean Graham Jones, who died in 1959; and Lillian Hawthorne Jones, who died in 2011; his parents, Nathaniel B. Jones and Lillian Brown Jones Rafe; a brother, Wellington Jones; and a sister, Eleanor Colclourght.
He is survived by a sister, Allie Jean Wooten, of Youngstown; daughters Stephanie Jones, of Washington, D.C., and East Walnut Hills, and Pamela Velez, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; sons Rick Hawthorne (Laura), of East Walnut Hills, and William Hawthorne (D'Anna) and Marc Hawthorne (Celeste), both of Atlanta, Georgia; former daughter-in-law Stephanie Hawthorne, of Atlanta, Georgia; foster son Charles Dawson (Rhonda) of Oakley, California; brother-in-law and sister-in-law James and Lula Graham of Riverview, Florida; grandchildren Lauren Hawthorne, Christopher Hawthorne, Brooke Hawthorne, Cory Hawthorne, Sydney Hawthorne, Tayler Hawthorne, James Haley and Trent Haley; and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.
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https://www.blankrome.com/publications/memoriam-judge-nathaniel-r-jones
In Memoriam: Judge Nathaniel R. Jones
January 27, 2020
Judge Jones
It is with great sadness that we share the news that our beloved colleague and friend Judge Nathaniel R. Jones passed away on Sunday, January 26, at age 93. Judge Jones joined Blank Rome in 2002 and served as our first Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer. He was integral in helping to foster and promote our rich culture of inclusion throughout the Firm, and selfless in sharing his time and unmatched perspective with so many of us who are better people for having known him. In collaboration with Chris Lewis and Sophia Lee—his successors in the Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer role—we have developed a thriving and nationally recognized diversity and inclusion program that reflects his vision and passion. In 2013, we developed the Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones Diversity and Inclusion Award, which is presented annually to a Blank Rome attorney or professional who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in promoting diversity and inclusion. We are grateful to have the opportunity to honor and remember Judge Jones through this important award that will forever bear his name.
In Judge Jones’ obituary, our Cincinnati Office Chair Michael Cioffi notes, “Nate Jones was the kind of hero America needed that (Martin Luther) King described as ‘an extremist for justice’ in ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail.’ Nate’s unwavering commitment to justice, equality, and the rule of law made him a great lawyer and great man. His genuine humility and everyday kindness made him loved by all, including those on the other side of the political spectrum. His life is an important lesson and model to us all.” We couldn’t agree more. While we have lost one of the brightest legal minds and civil rights advocates of our time, his groundbreaking work, steadfast compassion, and inspirational life and legacy will surely live on through the countless lives he has touched—both at Blank Rome and around the world.
A community visitation will be held at Corinthian Baptist Church, 1920 Tennessee Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio 45237, on Wednesday, January 29, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and Thursday, January 30, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
A Life-long Commitment to “Answering the Call”
“Being a lawyer was my calling, and that calling is the work for equal opportunity and justice for all our nation's citizens.” – Judge Nathanial R. Jones
Answering the Call
In 1962, Judge Jones became the first African American to be appointed as Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio in Cleveland. He held that position until his 1967 appointment as Assistant General Counsel to President Lyndon B. Johnson's National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, also known as the Kerner Commission.
Judge Jones went on to hold the position of general counsel of the NAACP from 1969 to 1979 where he directed all NAACP litigation. In addition to personally arguing several cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, he coordinated national efforts to end northern school segregation, to defend affirmative action, and to inquire into discrimination against black servicemen in the U.S. military. He also successfully coordinated the NAACP's defense on First Amendment grounds in the Mississippi Boycott case.
In 1979, President Jimmy Carter nominated Judge Jones to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He served on the court for 23 years, retiring in 2002.
An internationally renowned civil rights activist, Judge Jones played an important role in furthering the abolition of apartheid in South Africa. The drafters of South Africa’s new constitution and laws consulted him, and he conferred with Nelson Mandela upon Mandela’s release from 27 years of imprisonment.
Judge Jones joined Blank Rome in 2002, and we have been blessed and lucky to call him our colleague for nearly 18 years. During his time with us, Judge Jones served as our first Chief Officer of Diversity and Inclusion, creating the strong foundation for our diversity and inclusion program.
Judge Jones also taught trial advocacy at Harvard Law School and served as an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. He is the holder of 19 honorary degrees.
In 2003, in recognition of his outstanding career as a jurist and civil rights leader, Congress passed H.J. Res. 2 naming the Nathaniel R. Jones Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Youngstown, Ohio. In 2019, the University of Cincinnati College of Law renamed its Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice as the Judge Nathaniel R. Jones Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice (or the Jones Center), in his honor.
In May 2016, his memoir, Answering The Call: An Autobiography of the Modern Struggle to End Racial Discrimination in America, was published by The New Press. The book is described by its publishers as “an extraordinary eyewitness account from an unsung hero of the battle for racial equality in America.”
Judge Jones has received numerous awards and recognition for his tireless contributions to the civil rights movement and the legal industry, including:
The NAACP’s highest honor, the Spingarn Medal, 2016
The International Freedom Conductor Award from the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, 2016
The Federal Bar Association’s Pillar of Justice Award, 2014
The Nathaniel R. Jones American Inn of Court, chartered in Youngstown, Ohio, 2014.
The Children’s Defense Fund’s Changing the Odds Award, 2012
The Charles Hamilton Houston Medallion of Merit from the Washington Bar Association, 2011
Inducted into the Ohio Civil Rights Hall of Fame, 2010
Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.’s Laurel Wreath Award, 2009
The American Lawyer’s Lifetime Achievement Award, 2007
The Just The Beginning Foundation’s Trailblazer Award, 2006
The Annual Fellows Award from the American Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division, 2005
The Award of Excellence from the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund, 2004
The Ohio Bar Medal Award from the Ohio State Bar Association, 2003
Inducted into the National Bar Association Hall of Fame, 2002
Named a “Great Living Cincinnatian,” 1997
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https://www.naacp.org/latest/naacp-mourns-passing-legal-giant-judge-nathaniel-r-jones/
NAACP MOURNS PASSING OF LEGAL GIANT JUDGE NATHANIEL R. JONES
JANUARY 26, 2020
Baltimore, Maryland – Derrick Johnson, president and CEO, made the following statement about the passing of former U.S. Circuit Court Judge Nathaniel R. Jones today in Cincinnati:
“The entire NAACP family is devastated by this news. To the nation, he was a civil rights icon. To the NAACP, he was a beloved leader, colleague, and friend.
Judge Jones served as General Counsel to NAACP from 1969 until 1979. His vision and skill in navigating civil rights cases through the courts soon after passage of major civil rights laws is legendary and a model for civil rights practice today.
President Carter recognized his legal brilliance by appointing him to the U.S. Circuit Court for the Sixth Circuit in 1979, where “equal justice under law” served as his touchstone for 23 years.
After retiring from the bench, Judge Jones never slowed down. He continued to practice law and gave generously of his talents to advance the cause of civil rights.
In 2016, the NAACP bestowed its highest honor upon Judge Jones by awarding him the Spingarn Medal in his beloved Cincinnati.
In one of his last public appearances, Judge Jones offered keynote remarks at our 110th National Convention in Detroit. Fittingly, he spoke about the importance of federal judges who are committed to the progress we’ve made in civil rights.
Undoubtedly, Jones was and remains a universal pioneer for those in the fight for civil rights. His life and legacy reflect what it means to dedicate ourselves to the cause of liberty and justice for all.
We extend our prayers to his daughter, Stephanie Jones; his entire family; his many law clerks; and to the larger civil rights community.
Judge Jones’ autobiography is entitled, “Answering the Call.” On behalf of a nation, we will be eternally grateful to Judge Jones for answering that call and devoting his life to ensuring equality and justice for all.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathaniel_R._Jones
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Nathaniel R. Jones, Rights Lawyer and Federal Judge, Dies at 93
As a voice of the N.A.A.C.P., he challenged school segregation in the North and racial bias in the military. But, he cautioned, the struggle is not over.
By Sam Roberts
Feb. 4, 2020
Nathaniel R. Jones, a former chief legal spokesman for the civil rights movement and later a federal appeals court judge who devoted his long career to eradicating the legacy of slavery endured by his own family, died on Jan. 26 at his home in Cincinnati. He was 93.
Stephanie Jones, his daughter, said the cause was congestive heart failure.
As the general counsel of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in the 1970s, Mr. Jones revealed unwelcome truths by challenging school segregation in the North and racial bias in the military justice system, in which, among other things, black defendants had complained of being unable to trust white lawyers. He was also a strong defender of affirmative action programs and other measures to address historic discrimination.
In 1976, Mr. Jones helped persuade Alabama officials, including Gov. George C. Wallace, to pardon Clarence Norris, the last surviving member of the Scottsboro Boys, the nine black teenagers falsely accused of raping two white women aboard a train near Scottsboro, Ala., in 1931.
A decade later, Mr. Jones was arrested in South Africa for protesting the country’s apartheid policies. He later helped draft the Constitution that ended that country’s system of legal racial segregation and advised emerging African nations in designing judicial systems.
In “Answering the Call: An Autobiography of the Modern Struggle to End Racial Discrimination in America” (2016), Mr. Jones acknowledged the civil rights gains that had been achieved in the United States in the more than 60 years since, as a college student, he sued an Ohio restaurant that refused to serve him because he was black. But he cautioned that it was “no time for celebration.”
“Strong and unrelenting efforts have been unleashed,” he wrote, “to place the nation once again under what N.A.A.C.P. leader Roy Wilkins once described as the ‘smothering blanket’ of states’ rights.”
His invitation to the White House in March 1979 for the 25th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education school integration decision turned into a personal celebration as well: President Jimmy Carter named him to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati. He retired from the bench in 2002.
In his book, Mr. Jones recalled being struck that his fellow judges had been “numb to the fact that the institutions that govern people’s lives are shaped by subjective factors tinged with racial and class stereotypes.”
“Even rarer,” he wrote, “were judges capable of rising above their own prior social and economic conditioning to apply principles of law in a neutral fashion.”
Nathaniel Raphael Jones was born on May 13, 1926, in Youngstown, Ohio. His parents had moved there from Virginia farm country a few years before to find better jobs and to send their children to racially integrated schools. His maternal great-grandparents and paternal grandparents were born into slavery.
His father, Nathaniel Bacon Jones, was a laborer in a steel mill. Laid off during the Depression, he took jobs as a window washer and janitor.
But the family still depended on relief, even as his mother, Lillian Isabelle (Brown) Jones, held a series of low-paying jobs: housemaid, laundress, ladies’ restroom attendant in a theater. She was eventually hired as the subscription manager for a black weekly newspaper founded by J. Maynard Dickerson, a civil rights lawyer and local N.A.A.C.P. leader who would become young Nate Jones’s mentor.
After serving in the Army Air Forces at the end of World War II, Mr. Jones enrolled in Youngstown College in his hometown. When white employees of DuRell’s Restaurant in suburban Austintown, Ohio, refused to serve him and a friend dinner in 1948 because of their race, he sued.
“‘The statute calls for judgment up to $400,’ DuRell’s lawyer wrote,” Mr. Jones recalled in “Answering the Call.” “‘If you make a demand for $300 or $350 we could probably avoid a trial.’ We settled the case for $300. After the attorney fees, only a little money was left, but I had made my point.”
A lawyer retained to defend the restaurant owner, Mr. Jones said, turned out to be the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan in Ohio.
Attending classes on the G.I. Bill, Mr. Jones graduated from Youngstown College with a bachelor’s degree in 1951 and earned a law degree from Youngstown University. (The two institutions are now collectively known as Youngstown State University.)
During the Kennedy administration, Mr. Jones was the first black person to be named assistant United States attorney for the Northern District of Ohio. Under President Lyndon B. Johnson, he was assistant general counsel to the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, known as the Kerner Commission, which famously concluded in its report, “Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white — separate and unequal.”
Roy Wilkins, the N.A.A.C.P.’s executive director, named Mr. Jones general counsel in 1969; he held the job for 10 years. After convincing the federal courts that separate but supposedly equal public schools were illegal and challenging racially segregated systems in the South, the N.A.A.C.P. began to file suits that exposed similar disparities in Northern cities.
In 1971, a federal judge found that Detroit’s schools had been deliberately segregated. But the United States Supreme Court later all but banned the busing of children between mostly black urban districts and mostly white suburban ones to achieve integration.
“The court has said to black people: ‘You have rights, but you don’t have a remedy,’” Mr. Jones said at the time.
He also coordinated the financially pressed N.A.A.C.P.’ s successful challenge of the awarding of $3.5 million in damages to white merchants in Mississippi who had been boycotted as a way to pressure local elected officials to put civil rights protections in place. The Supreme Court ruled in 1982 that “the boycott clearly involved constitutionally protected activity” through which the N.A.A.C.P. “sought to bring about political, social and economic change.”
After he left the bench, Mr. Jones became of counsel to the law firm Blank Rome and co-chairman of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, both in Cincinnati. In 2003 the new federal courthouse in Youngstown, a few blocks from where he was born, in the Smoky Hollow district, was renamed in his honor. In 2016 he received the N.A.A.C.P.’s highest honor, the Spingarn Medal.
He married Jean Graham Jones, a niece of W.E.B. Du Bois, a founder of the N.A.A.C.P., in 1958; she died the next year. His marriage to Jean Velez in 1964 ended in divorce in 1974. He married Lillian Hawthorne in 1975. She died in 2011.
In addition to his daughter, Stephanie, from his first marriage, he is survived by a stepdaughter, Pamela Velez, from his marriage to Ms. Velez; three stepsons, Marc, Rick and William Hawthorne; a sister, Allie Jean Wooten; and eight grandchildren.
Mr. Jones held to a simple but powerful credo. As he told The Cincinnati Enquirer in 2012, “The key to prevailing as a minority in a segregated, oppressive society is to not let the prevailing stereotypes define who you are.”
Sam Roberts, an obituaries reporter, was previously The Times’s urban affairs correspondent and is the host of “The New York Times Close Up,” a weekly news and interview program on CUNY-TV. @samrob12
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http://hosting-12821.tributes.com/show/108085953
Nathaniel Raphael Jones
May 13, 1926 - January 26, 2020
Cincinnati, Ohio
Judge Nathaniel Raphael Jones, loving father of William Hawthorne (D'Anna), Pamela Velez, Rick Hawthorne (Laura), Marc Hawthorne ( Celeste) and Stephanie Jones. .Passed Sunday, January 26, 2020 Age 93 years. Visitation on Wednesday, January 29, 2020 from 5:00 PM- until 8:00 PM at Corinthian Baptist Church, 1920 Tennessee Ave. Cincinnati, Ohio 45237 with a special Kappa Alpha Psi Memorial Service at 6:00pm. Also Visitation Thursday, January 30, 2020 from 10:00 AM until 12:00 PM at Corinthian Baptist Church with Full Military Services.
Special online condolences for family and friends may be expressed at http://www.jcbattleandsonsfuneralhome.com
His Life story:
The Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones, an internationally renowned retired federal judge, lawyer, and civil rights activist, was born in Youngstown, Ohio. His father worked in the steel city's steel mills and as a janitor. His mother was a homemaker and was employed as a domestic.
Judge Jones attended public school in Youngstown, Ohio and, after serving in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II, he received his undergraduate and law degrees at Youngstown State University through the G.I. Bill of Rights.
Judge Jones began his professional career as Executive Director of the Fair Employment Practices Commission of Youngstown, Ohio. A year after entering the general practice of law, he was the first African American appointed as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio in Cleveland.
In 1967, Judge Jones served as Assistant General Counsel to President Johnson's National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, also known as the Kerner Commission, which studied the causes of the urban riots of the Sixties. Afterward, Judge Jones returned to Youngstown to practice law as a founding partner in the law firm of Goldberg and Jones.
In 1969, NAACP Executive Director Roy Wilkins asked Jones to serve as the organization's General Counsel, a position he held from 1969 to 1979.
As General Counsel, Judge Jones coordinated the attack against northern school segregation, and twice argued the Detroit school case, Bradley v. Milliken before the U.S. Supreme Court. Judge Jones also spearheaded successful attacks against segregation in the nation's public schools across the country, directed the national response to the attacks against affirmative action, led an inquiry into discrimination against black servicemen in the military, and supervised the NAACP's defense in the Mississippi Boycott case, which led to a landmark Supreme Court decision that recognized the rights of individuals and organizations to engage in protests under the First Amendment.
Judge Jones was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit by President Carter in 1979 and served with great distinction for 23 years, publishing scores of opinions and law review articles of great significance, and serving on a number of government committees and special bodies.
In addition to his judicial duties, Judge Jones participated in a variety of activities, including serving as an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, instructor in the trial advocacy program at the Harvard Law School, and adjunct professor at the Criminal Law Institute of Atlanta University. Judge Jones has also lectured and judged moot court competitions at numerous law schools including Yale, New York University, and Georgetown. He is the holder of 17 honorary degrees.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Judge Jones played an important role in furthering the abolition of apartheid in South Africa. The drafters of South Africa's new constitution and laws consulted him, and he conferred with Nelson Mandela upon Mandela's release from 27 years of imprisonment.
Following his retirement from the Sixth Circuit in 2002, Judge Jones assumed a position as Of Counsel with Blank Rome LLP. He serves as honorary co-chair and director of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. He participates in a variety of other activities and has served as a member of the Toyota Motor Manufacturing, North America, Inc. Diversity Advisory Board, the KnowledgeWorks Foundation Board of Directors, and the Cincinnati Youth Collaborative Board of Directors.
Judge Jones has authored numerous articles and papers and has been the recipient of many honors and awards, including the prestigious 2002 Professionalism Award for the Sixth Circuit by the American Inns of Court; the 2002 Thurgood Marshall Award from the National Bar Association's Judicial Council, induction into the National Bar Association Hall of Fame, and in February 1997, he was recognized by the Chamber of Commerce as one of the "Great Living Cincinnatians."
Judge Jones memoir, Answering the Call: An Autobiography on the Modern Struggle to End Racial Segregation in America, published in 2016, is an extraordinary eyewitness account of the battle for racial equality in America. Judge Jones founded The Answering the Call to Justice Foundation in 2017 to provide new generations with the lessons and tools he learned in his long career so that they may continue the next leg of the journey toward racial justice in the twenty-first century.
On 2003, the Nathaniel R. Jones Federal Building and United States Courthouse opened in Youngstown, Ohio.
In 2016, Judge Jones was awarded the NAACP's 101st Spingarn Medal, the organization's highest honor, joining previous recipients that include U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Hank Aaron, and Oprah Winfrey.
Active and working until the end of his life, Jones made his final public appearance on November 14, 2019 at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center at a dinner tribute celebrating the renaming and re-launching of the Nathaniel R. Jones Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. Jones was a center co-founder in 2010.
Judge Jones was preceded in death by his wives Jean Graham Jones, who died in 1959; and Lillian Hawthorne Jones, who died in 2011; his parents, Nathaniel B. Jones and Lillian Brown Jones Rafe; a brother, Wellington Jones; and a sister, Eleanor Colclourght.
He is survived by a sister, Allie Jean Wooten, of Youngstown; daughters Stephanie Jones, of Washington, D.C., and East Walnut Hills, and Pamela Velez, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; sons Rick Hawthorne (Laura), of East Walnut Hills, and William Hawthorne (D'Anna) and Marc Hawthorne (Celeste), both of Atlanta, Georgia; former daughter-in-law Stephanie Hawthorne, of Atlanta, Georgia; foster son Charles Dawson (Rhonda) of Oakley, California; brother-in-law and sister-in-law James and Lula Graham of Riverview, Florida; grandchildren Lauren Hawthorne, Christopher Hawthorne, Brooke Hawthorne, Cory Hawthorne, Sydney Hawthorne, Tayler Hawthorne, James Haley and Trent Haley; and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.
___________________________________
https://www.blankrome.com/publications/memoriam-judge-nathaniel-r-jones
In Memoriam: Judge Nathaniel R. Jones
January 27, 2020
Judge Jones
It is with great sadness that we share the news that our beloved colleague and friend Judge Nathaniel R. Jones passed away on Sunday, January 26, at age 93. Judge Jones joined Blank Rome in 2002 and served as our first Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer. He was integral in helping to foster and promote our rich culture of inclusion throughout the Firm, and selfless in sharing his time and unmatched perspective with so many of us who are better people for having known him. In collaboration with Chris Lewis and Sophia Lee—his successors in the Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer role—we have developed a thriving and nationally recognized diversity and inclusion program that reflects his vision and passion. In 2013, we developed the Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones Diversity and Inclusion Award, which is presented annually to a Blank Rome attorney or professional who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in promoting diversity and inclusion. We are grateful to have the opportunity to honor and remember Judge Jones through this important award that will forever bear his name.
In Judge Jones’ obituary, our Cincinnati Office Chair Michael Cioffi notes, “Nate Jones was the kind of hero America needed that (Martin Luther) King described as ‘an extremist for justice’ in ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail.’ Nate’s unwavering commitment to justice, equality, and the rule of law made him a great lawyer and great man. His genuine humility and everyday kindness made him loved by all, including those on the other side of the political spectrum. His life is an important lesson and model to us all.” We couldn’t agree more. While we have lost one of the brightest legal minds and civil rights advocates of our time, his groundbreaking work, steadfast compassion, and inspirational life and legacy will surely live on through the countless lives he has touched—both at Blank Rome and around the world.
A community visitation will be held at Corinthian Baptist Church, 1920 Tennessee Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio 45237, on Wednesday, January 29, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and Thursday, January 30, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
A Life-long Commitment to “Answering the Call”
“Being a lawyer was my calling, and that calling is the work for equal opportunity and justice for all our nation's citizens.” – Judge Nathanial R. Jones
Answering the Call
In 1962, Judge Jones became the first African American to be appointed as Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio in Cleveland. He held that position until his 1967 appointment as Assistant General Counsel to President Lyndon B. Johnson's National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, also known as the Kerner Commission.
Judge Jones went on to hold the position of general counsel of the NAACP from 1969 to 1979 where he directed all NAACP litigation. In addition to personally arguing several cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, he coordinated national efforts to end northern school segregation, to defend affirmative action, and to inquire into discrimination against black servicemen in the U.S. military. He also successfully coordinated the NAACP's defense on First Amendment grounds in the Mississippi Boycott case.
In 1979, President Jimmy Carter nominated Judge Jones to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He served on the court for 23 years, retiring in 2002.
An internationally renowned civil rights activist, Judge Jones played an important role in furthering the abolition of apartheid in South Africa. The drafters of South Africa’s new constitution and laws consulted him, and he conferred with Nelson Mandela upon Mandela’s release from 27 years of imprisonment.
Judge Jones joined Blank Rome in 2002, and we have been blessed and lucky to call him our colleague for nearly 18 years. During his time with us, Judge Jones served as our first Chief Officer of Diversity and Inclusion, creating the strong foundation for our diversity and inclusion program.
Judge Jones also taught trial advocacy at Harvard Law School and served as an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. He is the holder of 19 honorary degrees.
In 2003, in recognition of his outstanding career as a jurist and civil rights leader, Congress passed H.J. Res. 2 naming the Nathaniel R. Jones Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Youngstown, Ohio. In 2019, the University of Cincinnati College of Law renamed its Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice as the Judge Nathaniel R. Jones Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice (or the Jones Center), in his honor.
In May 2016, his memoir, Answering The Call: An Autobiography of the Modern Struggle to End Racial Discrimination in America, was published by The New Press. The book is described by its publishers as “an extraordinary eyewitness account from an unsung hero of the battle for racial equality in America.”
Judge Jones has received numerous awards and recognition for his tireless contributions to the civil rights movement and the legal industry, including:
The NAACP’s highest honor, the Spingarn Medal, 2016
The International Freedom Conductor Award from the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, 2016
The Federal Bar Association’s Pillar of Justice Award, 2014
The Nathaniel R. Jones American Inn of Court, chartered in Youngstown, Ohio, 2014.
The Children’s Defense Fund’s Changing the Odds Award, 2012
The Charles Hamilton Houston Medallion of Merit from the Washington Bar Association, 2011
Inducted into the Ohio Civil Rights Hall of Fame, 2010
Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.’s Laurel Wreath Award, 2009
The American Lawyer’s Lifetime Achievement Award, 2007
The Just The Beginning Foundation’s Trailblazer Award, 2006
The Annual Fellows Award from the American Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division, 2005
The Award of Excellence from the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund, 2004
The Ohio Bar Medal Award from the Ohio State Bar Association, 2003
Inducted into the National Bar Association Hall of Fame, 2002
Named a “Great Living Cincinnatian,” 1997
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https://www.naacp.org/latest/naacp-mourns-passing-legal-giant-judge-nathaniel-r-jones/
NAACP MOURNS PASSING OF LEGAL GIANT JUDGE NATHANIEL R. JONES
JANUARY 26, 2020
Baltimore, Maryland – Derrick Johnson, president and CEO, made the following statement about the passing of former U.S. Circuit Court Judge Nathaniel R. Jones today in Cincinnati:
“The entire NAACP family is devastated by this news. To the nation, he was a civil rights icon. To the NAACP, he was a beloved leader, colleague, and friend.
Judge Jones served as General Counsel to NAACP from 1969 until 1979. His vision and skill in navigating civil rights cases through the courts soon after passage of major civil rights laws is legendary and a model for civil rights practice today.
President Carter recognized his legal brilliance by appointing him to the U.S. Circuit Court for the Sixth Circuit in 1979, where “equal justice under law” served as his touchstone for 23 years.
After retiring from the bench, Judge Jones never slowed down. He continued to practice law and gave generously of his talents to advance the cause of civil rights.
In 2016, the NAACP bestowed its highest honor upon Judge Jones by awarding him the Spingarn Medal in his beloved Cincinnati.
In one of his last public appearances, Judge Jones offered keynote remarks at our 110th National Convention in Detroit. Fittingly, he spoke about the importance of federal judges who are committed to the progress we’ve made in civil rights.
Undoubtedly, Jones was and remains a universal pioneer for those in the fight for civil rights. His life and legacy reflect what it means to dedicate ourselves to the cause of liberty and justice for all.
We extend our prayers to his daughter, Stephanie Jones; his entire family; his many law clerks; and to the larger civil rights community.
Judge Jones’ autobiography is entitled, “Answering the Call.” On behalf of a nation, we will be eternally grateful to Judge Jones for answering that call and devoting his life to ensuring equality and justice for all.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathaniel_R._Jones
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https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/04/us/nathaniel-r-jones-dead.html
Nathaniel R. Jones, Rights Lawyer and Federal Judge, Dies at 93
As a voice of the N.A.A.C.P., he challenged school segregation in the North and racial bias in the military. But, he cautioned, the struggle is not over.
By Sam Roberts
Feb. 4, 2020
Nathaniel R. Jones, a former chief legal spokesman for the civil rights movement and later a federal appeals court judge who devoted his long career to eradicating the legacy of slavery endured by his own family, died on Jan. 26 at his home in Cincinnati. He was 93.
Stephanie Jones, his daughter, said the cause was congestive heart failure.
As the general counsel of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in the 1970s, Mr. Jones revealed unwelcome truths by challenging school segregation in the North and racial bias in the military justice system, in which, among other things, black defendants had complained of being unable to trust white lawyers. He was also a strong defender of affirmative action programs and other measures to address historic discrimination.
In 1976, Mr. Jones helped persuade Alabama officials, including Gov. George C. Wallace, to pardon Clarence Norris, the last surviving member of the Scottsboro Boys, the nine black teenagers falsely accused of raping two white women aboard a train near Scottsboro, Ala., in 1931.
A decade later, Mr. Jones was arrested in South Africa for protesting the country’s apartheid policies. He later helped draft the Constitution that ended that country’s system of legal racial segregation and advised emerging African nations in designing judicial systems.
In “Answering the Call: An Autobiography of the Modern Struggle to End Racial Discrimination in America” (2016), Mr. Jones acknowledged the civil rights gains that had been achieved in the United States in the more than 60 years since, as a college student, he sued an Ohio restaurant that refused to serve him because he was black. But he cautioned that it was “no time for celebration.”
“Strong and unrelenting efforts have been unleashed,” he wrote, “to place the nation once again under what N.A.A.C.P. leader Roy Wilkins once described as the ‘smothering blanket’ of states’ rights.”
His invitation to the White House in March 1979 for the 25th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education school integration decision turned into a personal celebration as well: President Jimmy Carter named him to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati. He retired from the bench in 2002.
In his book, Mr. Jones recalled being struck that his fellow judges had been “numb to the fact that the institutions that govern people’s lives are shaped by subjective factors tinged with racial and class stereotypes.”
“Even rarer,” he wrote, “were judges capable of rising above their own prior social and economic conditioning to apply principles of law in a neutral fashion.”
Nathaniel Raphael Jones was born on May 13, 1926, in Youngstown, Ohio. His parents had moved there from Virginia farm country a few years before to find better jobs and to send their children to racially integrated schools. His maternal great-grandparents and paternal grandparents were born into slavery.
His father, Nathaniel Bacon Jones, was a laborer in a steel mill. Laid off during the Depression, he took jobs as a window washer and janitor.
But the family still depended on relief, even as his mother, Lillian Isabelle (Brown) Jones, held a series of low-paying jobs: housemaid, laundress, ladies’ restroom attendant in a theater. She was eventually hired as the subscription manager for a black weekly newspaper founded by J. Maynard Dickerson, a civil rights lawyer and local N.A.A.C.P. leader who would become young Nate Jones’s mentor.
After serving in the Army Air Forces at the end of World War II, Mr. Jones enrolled in Youngstown College in his hometown. When white employees of DuRell’s Restaurant in suburban Austintown, Ohio, refused to serve him and a friend dinner in 1948 because of their race, he sued.
“‘The statute calls for judgment up to $400,’ DuRell’s lawyer wrote,” Mr. Jones recalled in “Answering the Call.” “‘If you make a demand for $300 or $350 we could probably avoid a trial.’ We settled the case for $300. After the attorney fees, only a little money was left, but I had made my point.”
A lawyer retained to defend the restaurant owner, Mr. Jones said, turned out to be the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan in Ohio.
Attending classes on the G.I. Bill, Mr. Jones graduated from Youngstown College with a bachelor’s degree in 1951 and earned a law degree from Youngstown University. (The two institutions are now collectively known as Youngstown State University.)
During the Kennedy administration, Mr. Jones was the first black person to be named assistant United States attorney for the Northern District of Ohio. Under President Lyndon B. Johnson, he was assistant general counsel to the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, known as the Kerner Commission, which famously concluded in its report, “Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white — separate and unequal.”
Roy Wilkins, the N.A.A.C.P.’s executive director, named Mr. Jones general counsel in 1969; he held the job for 10 years. After convincing the federal courts that separate but supposedly equal public schools were illegal and challenging racially segregated systems in the South, the N.A.A.C.P. began to file suits that exposed similar disparities in Northern cities.
In 1971, a federal judge found that Detroit’s schools had been deliberately segregated. But the United States Supreme Court later all but banned the busing of children between mostly black urban districts and mostly white suburban ones to achieve integration.
“The court has said to black people: ‘You have rights, but you don’t have a remedy,’” Mr. Jones said at the time.
He also coordinated the financially pressed N.A.A.C.P.’ s successful challenge of the awarding of $3.5 million in damages to white merchants in Mississippi who had been boycotted as a way to pressure local elected officials to put civil rights protections in place. The Supreme Court ruled in 1982 that “the boycott clearly involved constitutionally protected activity” through which the N.A.A.C.P. “sought to bring about political, social and economic change.”
After he left the bench, Mr. Jones became of counsel to the law firm Blank Rome and co-chairman of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, both in Cincinnati. In 2003 the new federal courthouse in Youngstown, a few blocks from where he was born, in the Smoky Hollow district, was renamed in his honor. In 2016 he received the N.A.A.C.P.’s highest honor, the Spingarn Medal.
He married Jean Graham Jones, a niece of W.E.B. Du Bois, a founder of the N.A.A.C.P., in 1958; she died the next year. His marriage to Jean Velez in 1964 ended in divorce in 1974. He married Lillian Hawthorne in 1975. She died in 2011.
In addition to his daughter, Stephanie, from his first marriage, he is survived by a stepdaughter, Pamela Velez, from his marriage to Ms. Velez; three stepsons, Marc, Rick and William Hawthorne; a sister, Allie Jean Wooten; and eight grandchildren.
Mr. Jones held to a simple but powerful credo. As he told The Cincinnati Enquirer in 2012, “The key to prevailing as a minority in a segregated, oppressive society is to not let the prevailing stereotypes define who you are.”
Sam Roberts, an obituaries reporter, was previously The Times’s urban affairs correspondent and is the host of “The New York Times Close Up,” a weekly news and interview program on CUNY-TV. @samrob12
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http://hosting-12821.tributes.com/show/108085953
Nathaniel Raphael Jones
May 13, 1926 - January 26, 2020
Cincinnati, Ohio
Judge Nathaniel Raphael Jones, loving father of William Hawthorne (D'Anna), Pamela Velez, Rick Hawthorne (Laura), Marc Hawthorne ( Celeste) and Stephanie Jones. .Passed Sunday, January 26, 2020 Age 93 years. Visitation on Wednesday, January 29, 2020 from 5:00 PM- until 8:00 PM at Corinthian Baptist Church, 1920 Tennessee Ave. Cincinnati, Ohio 45237 with a special Kappa Alpha Psi Memorial Service at 6:00pm. Also Visitation Thursday, January 30, 2020 from 10:00 AM until 12:00 PM at Corinthian Baptist Church with Full Military Services.
Special online condolences for family and friends may be expressed at http://www.jcbattleandsonsfuneralhome.com
His Life story:
The Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones, an internationally renowned retired federal judge, lawyer, and civil rights activist, was born in Youngstown, Ohio. His father worked in the steel city's steel mills and as a janitor. His mother was a homemaker and was employed as a domestic.
Judge Jones attended public school in Youngstown, Ohio and, after serving in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II, he received his undergraduate and law degrees at Youngstown State University through the G.I. Bill of Rights.
Judge Jones began his professional career as Executive Director of the Fair Employment Practices Commission of Youngstown, Ohio. A year after entering the general practice of law, he was the first African American appointed as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio in Cleveland.
In 1967, Judge Jones served as Assistant General Counsel to President Johnson's National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, also known as the Kerner Commission, which studied the causes of the urban riots of the Sixties. Afterward, Judge Jones returned to Youngstown to practice law as a founding partner in the law firm of Goldberg and Jones.
In 1969, NAACP Executive Director Roy Wilkins asked Jones to serve as the organization's General Counsel, a position he held from 1969 to 1979.
As General Counsel, Judge Jones coordinated the attack against northern school segregation, and twice argued the Detroit school case, Bradley v. Milliken before the U.S. Supreme Court. Judge Jones also spearheaded successful attacks against segregation in the nation's public schools across the country, directed the national response to the attacks against affirmative action, led an inquiry into discrimination against black servicemen in the military, and supervised the NAACP's defense in the Mississippi Boycott case, which led to a landmark Supreme Court decision that recognized the rights of individuals and organizations to engage in protests under the First Amendment.
Judge Jones was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit by President Carter in 1979 and served with great distinction for 23 years, publishing scores of opinions and law review articles of great significance, and serving on a number of government committees and special bodies.
In addition to his judicial duties, Judge Jones participated in a variety of activities, including serving as an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, instructor in the trial advocacy program at the Harvard Law School, and adjunct professor at the Criminal Law Institute of Atlanta University. Judge Jones has also lectured and judged moot court competitions at numerous law schools including Yale, New York University, and Georgetown. He is the holder of 17 honorary degrees.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Judge Jones played an important role in furthering the abolition of apartheid in South Africa. The drafters of South Africa's new constitution and laws consulted him, and he conferred with Nelson Mandela upon Mandela's release from 27 years of imprisonment.
Following his retirement from the Sixth Circuit in 2002, Judge Jones assumed a position as Of Counsel with Blank Rome LLP. He serves as honorary co-chair and director of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. He participates in a variety of other activities and has served as a member of the Toyota Motor Manufacturing, North America, Inc. Diversity Advisory Board, the KnowledgeWorks Foundation Board of Directors, and the Cincinnati Youth Collaborative Board of Directors.
Judge Jones has authored numerous articles and papers and has been the recipient of many honors and awards, including the prestigious 2002 Professionalism Award for the Sixth Circuit by the American Inns of Court; the 2002 Thurgood Marshall Award from the National Bar Association's Judicial Council, induction into the National Bar Association Hall of Fame, and in February 1997, he was recognized by the Chamber of Commerce as one of the "Great Living Cincinnatians."
Judge Jones memoir, Answering the Call: An Autobiography on the Modern Struggle to End Racial Segregation in America, published in 2016, is an extraordinary eyewitness account of the battle for racial equality in America. Judge Jones founded The Answering the Call to Justice Foundation in 2017 to provide new generations with the lessons and tools he learned in his long career so that they may continue the next leg of the journey toward racial justice in the twenty-first century.
On 2003, the Nathaniel R. Jones Federal Building and United States Courthouse opened in Youngstown, Ohio.
In 2016, Judge Jones was awarded the NAACP's 101st Spingarn Medal, the organization's highest honor, joining previous recipients that include U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Hank Aaron, and Oprah Winfrey.
Active and working until the end of his life, Jones made his final public appearance on November 14, 2019 at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center at a dinner tribute celebrating the renaming and re-launching of the Nathaniel R. Jones Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. Jones was a center co-founder in 2010.
Judge Jones was preceded in death by his wives Jean Graham Jones, who died in 1959; and Lillian Hawthorne Jones, who died in 2011; his parents, Nathaniel B. Jones and Lillian Brown Jones Rafe; a brother, Wellington Jones; and a sister, Eleanor Colclourght.
He is survived by a sister, Allie Jean Wooten, of Youngstown; daughters Stephanie Jones, of Washington, D.C., and East Walnut Hills, and Pamela Velez, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; sons Rick Hawthorne (Laura), of East Walnut Hills, and William Hawthorne (D'Anna) and Marc Hawthorne (Celeste), both of Atlanta, Georgia; former daughter-in-law Stephanie Hawthorne, of Atlanta, Georgia; foster son Charles Dawson (Rhonda) of Oakley, California; brother-in-law and sister-in-law James and Lula Graham of Riverview, Florida; grandchildren Lauren Hawthorne, Christopher Hawthorne, Brooke Hawthorne, Cory Hawthorne, Sydney Hawthorne, Tayler Hawthorne, James Haley and Trent Haley; and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.
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https://www.blankrome.com/publications/memoriam-judge-nathaniel-r-jones
In Memoriam: Judge Nathaniel R. Jones
January 27, 2020
Judge Jones
It is with great sadness that we share the news that our beloved colleague and friend Judge Nathaniel R. Jones passed away on Sunday, January 26, at age 93. Judge Jones joined Blank Rome in 2002 and served as our first Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer. He was integral in helping to foster and promote our rich culture of inclusion throughout the Firm, and selfless in sharing his time and unmatched perspective with so many of us who are better people for having known him. In collaboration with Chris Lewis and Sophia Lee—his successors in the Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer role—we have developed a thriving and nationally recognized diversity and inclusion program that reflects his vision and passion. In 2013, we developed the Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones Diversity and Inclusion Award, which is presented annually to a Blank Rome attorney or professional who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in promoting diversity and inclusion. We are grateful to have the opportunity to honor and remember Judge Jones through this important award that will forever bear his name.
In Judge Jones’ obituary, our Cincinnati Office Chair Michael Cioffi notes, “Nate Jones was the kind of hero America needed that (Martin Luther) King described as ‘an extremist for justice’ in ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail.’ Nate’s unwavering commitment to justice, equality, and the rule of law made him a great lawyer and great man. His genuine humility and everyday kindness made him loved by all, including those on the other side of the political spectrum. His life is an important lesson and model to us all.” We couldn’t agree more. While we have lost one of the brightest legal minds and civil rights advocates of our time, his groundbreaking work, steadfast compassion, and inspirational life and legacy will surely live on through the countless lives he has touched—both at Blank Rome and around the world.
A community visitation will be held at Corinthian Baptist Church, 1920 Tennessee Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio 45237, on Wednesday, January 29, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and Thursday, January 30, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
A Life-long Commitment to “Answering the Call”
“Being a lawyer was my calling, and that calling is the work for equal opportunity and justice for all our nation's citizens.” – Judge Nathanial R. Jones
Answering the Call
In 1962, Judge Jones became the first African American to be appointed as Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio in Cleveland. He held that position until his 1967 appointment as Assistant General Counsel to President Lyndon B. Johnson's National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, also known as the Kerner Commission.
Judge Jones went on to hold the position of general counsel of the NAACP from 1969 to 1979 where he directed all NAACP litigation. In addition to personally arguing several cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, he coordinated national efforts to end northern school segregation, to defend affirmative action, and to inquire into discrimination against black servicemen in the U.S. military. He also successfully coordinated the NAACP's defense on First Amendment grounds in the Mississippi Boycott case.
In 1979, President Jimmy Carter nominated Judge Jones to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He served on the court for 23 years, retiring in 2002.
An internationally renowned civil rights activist, Judge Jones played an important role in furthering the abolition of apartheid in South Africa. The drafters of South Africa’s new constitution and laws consulted him, and he conferred with Nelson Mandela upon Mandela’s release from 27 years of imprisonment.
Judge Jones joined Blank Rome in 2002, and we have been blessed and lucky to call him our colleague for nearly 18 years. During his time with us, Judge Jones served as our first Chief Officer of Diversity and Inclusion, creating the strong foundation for our diversity and inclusion program.
Judge Jones also taught trial advocacy at Harvard Law School and served as an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. He is the holder of 19 honorary degrees.
In 2003, in recognition of his outstanding career as a jurist and civil rights leader, Congress passed H.J. Res. 2 naming the Nathaniel R. Jones Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Youngstown, Ohio. In 2019, the University of Cincinnati College of Law renamed its Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice as the Judge Nathaniel R. Jones Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice (or the Jones Center), in his honor.
In May 2016, his memoir, Answering The Call: An Autobiography of the Modern Struggle to End Racial Discrimination in America, was published by The New Press. The book is described by its publishers as “an extraordinary eyewitness account from an unsung hero of the battle for racial equality in America.”
Judge Jones has received numerous awards and recognition for his tireless contributions to the civil rights movement and the legal industry, including:
The NAACP’s highest honor, the Spingarn Medal, 2016
The International Freedom Conductor Award from the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, 2016
The Federal Bar Association’s Pillar of Justice Award, 2014
The Nathaniel R. Jones American Inn of Court, chartered in Youngstown, Ohio, 2014.
The Children’s Defense Fund’s Changing the Odds Award, 2012
The Charles Hamilton Houston Medallion of Merit from the Washington Bar Association, 2011
Inducted into the Ohio Civil Rights Hall of Fame, 2010
Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.’s Laurel Wreath Award, 2009
The American Lawyer’s Lifetime Achievement Award, 2007
The Just The Beginning Foundation’s Trailblazer Award, 2006
The Annual Fellows Award from the American Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division, 2005
The Award of Excellence from the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund, 2004
The Ohio Bar Medal Award from the Ohio State Bar Association, 2003
Inducted into the National Bar Association Hall of Fame, 2002
Named a “Great Living Cincinnatian,” 1997
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https://www.naacp.org/latest/naacp-mourns-passing-legal-giant-judge-nathaniel-r-jones/
NAACP MOURNS PASSING OF LEGAL GIANT JUDGE NATHANIEL R. JONES
JANUARY 26, 2020
Baltimore, Maryland – Derrick Johnson, president and CEO, made the following statement about the passing of former U.S. Circuit Court Judge Nathaniel R. Jones today in Cincinnati:
“The entire NAACP family is devastated by this news. To the nation, he was a civil rights icon. To the NAACP, he was a beloved leader, colleague, and friend.
Judge Jones served as General Counsel to NAACP from 1969 until 1979. His vision and skill in navigating civil rights cases through the courts soon after passage of major civil rights laws is legendary and a model for civil rights practice today.
President Carter recognized his legal brilliance by appointing him to the U.S. Circuit Court for the Sixth Circuit in 1979, where “equal justice under law” served as his touchstone for 23 years.
After retiring from the bench, Judge Jones never slowed down. He continued to practice law and gave generously of his talents to advance the cause of civil rights.
In 2016, the NAACP bestowed its highest honor upon Judge Jones by awarding him the Spingarn Medal in his beloved Cincinnati.
In one of his last public appearances, Judge Jones offered keynote remarks at our 110th National Convention in Detroit. Fittingly, he spoke about the importance of federal judges who are committed to the progress we’ve made in civil rights.
Undoubtedly, Jones was and remains a universal pioneer for those in the fight for civil rights. His life and legacy reflect what it means to dedicate ourselves to the cause of liberty and justice for all.
We extend our prayers to his daughter, Stephanie Jones; his entire family; his many law clerks; and to the larger civil rights community.
Judge Jones’ autobiography is entitled, “Answering the Call.” On behalf of a nation, we will be eternally grateful to Judge Jones for answering that call and devoting his life to ensuring equality and justice for all.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathaniel_R._Jones
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Nathaniel R. Jones, Rights Lawyer and Federal Judge, Dies at 93
As a voice of the N.A.A.C.P., he challenged school segregation in the North and racial bias in the military. But, he cautioned, the struggle is not over.
By Sam Roberts
Feb. 4, 2020
Nathaniel R. Jones, a former chief legal spokesman for the civil rights movement and later a federal appeals court judge who devoted his long career to eradicating the legacy of slavery endured by his own family, died on Jan. 26 at his home in Cincinnati. He was 93.
Stephanie Jones, his daughter, said the cause was congestive heart failure.
As the general counsel of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in the 1970s, Mr. Jones revealed unwelcome truths by challenging school segregation in the North and racial bias in the military justice system, in which, among other things, black defendants had complained of being unable to trust white lawyers. He was also a strong defender of affirmative action programs and other measures to address historic discrimination.
In 1976, Mr. Jones helped persuade Alabama officials, including Gov. George C. Wallace, to pardon Clarence Norris, the last surviving member of the Scottsboro Boys, the nine black teenagers falsely accused of raping two white women aboard a train near Scottsboro, Ala., in 1931.
A decade later, Mr. Jones was arrested in South Africa for protesting the country’s apartheid policies. He later helped draft the Constitution that ended that country’s system of legal racial segregation and advised emerging African nations in designing judicial systems.
In “Answering the Call: An Autobiography of the Modern Struggle to End Racial Discrimination in America” (2016), Mr. Jones acknowledged the civil rights gains that had been achieved in the United States in the more than 60 years since, as a college student, he sued an Ohio restaurant that refused to serve him because he was black. But he cautioned that it was “no time for celebration.”
“Strong and unrelenting efforts have been unleashed,” he wrote, “to place the nation once again under what N.A.A.C.P. leader Roy Wilkins once described as the ‘smothering blanket’ of states’ rights.”
His invitation to the White House in March 1979 for the 25th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education school integration decision turned into a personal celebration as well: President Jimmy Carter named him to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati. He retired from the bench in 2002.
In his book, Mr. Jones recalled being struck that his fellow judges had been “numb to the fact that the institutions that govern people’s lives are shaped by subjective factors tinged with racial and class stereotypes.”
“Even rarer,” he wrote, “were judges capable of rising above their own prior social and economic conditioning to apply principles of law in a neutral fashion.”
Nathaniel Raphael Jones was born on May 13, 1926, in Youngstown, Ohio. His parents had moved there from Virginia farm country a few years before to find better jobs and to send their children to racially integrated schools. His maternal great-grandparents and paternal grandparents were born into slavery.
His father, Nathaniel Bacon Jones, was a laborer in a steel mill. Laid off during the Depression, he took jobs as a window washer and janitor.
But the family still depended on relief, even as his mother, Lillian Isabelle (Brown) Jones, held a series of low-paying jobs: housemaid, laundress, ladies’ restroom attendant in a theater. She was eventually hired as the subscription manager for a black weekly newspaper founded by J. Maynard Dickerson, a civil rights lawyer and local N.A.A.C.P. leader who would become young Nate Jones’s mentor.
After serving in the Army Air Forces at the end of World War II, Mr. Jones enrolled in Youngstown College in his hometown. When white employees of DuRell’s Restaurant in suburban Austintown, Ohio, refused to serve him and a friend dinner in 1948 because of their race, he sued.
“‘The statute calls for judgment up to $400,’ DuRell’s lawyer wrote,” Mr. Jones recalled in “Answering the Call.” “‘If you make a demand for $300 or $350 we could probably avoid a trial.’ We settled the case for $300. After the attorney fees, only a little money was left, but I had made my point.”
A lawyer retained to defend the restaurant owner, Mr. Jones said, turned out to be the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan in Ohio.
Attending classes on the G.I. Bill, Mr. Jones graduated from Youngstown College with a bachelor’s degree in 1951 and earned a law degree from Youngstown University. (The two institutions are now collectively known as Youngstown State University.)
During the Kennedy administration, Mr. Jones was the first black person to be named assistant United States attorney for the Northern District of Ohio. Under President Lyndon B. Johnson, he was assistant general counsel to the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, known as the Kerner Commission, which famously concluded in its report, “Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white — separate and unequal.”
Roy Wilkins, the N.A.A.C.P.’s executive director, named Mr. Jones general counsel in 1969; he held the job for 10 years. After convincing the federal courts that separate but supposedly equal public schools were illegal and challenging racially segregated systems in the South, the N.A.A.C.P. began to file suits that exposed similar disparities in Northern cities.
In 1971, a federal judge found that Detroit’s schools had been deliberately segregated. But the United States Supreme Court later all but banned the busing of children between mostly black urban districts and mostly white suburban ones to achieve integration.
“The court has said to black people: ‘You have rights, but you don’t have a remedy,’” Mr. Jones said at the time.
He also coordinated the financially pressed N.A.A.C.P.’ s successful challenge of the awarding of $3.5 million in damages to white merchants in Mississippi who had been boycotted as a way to pressure local elected officials to put civil rights protections in place. The Supreme Court ruled in 1982 that “the boycott clearly involved constitutionally protected activity” through which the N.A.A.C.P. “sought to bring about political, social and economic change.”
After he left the bench, Mr. Jones became of counsel to the law firm Blank Rome and co-chairman of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, both in Cincinnati. In 2003 the new federal courthouse in Youngstown, a few blocks from where he was born, in the Smoky Hollow district, was renamed in his honor. In 2016 he received the N.A.A.C.P.’s highest honor, the Spingarn Medal.
He married Jean Graham Jones, a niece of W.E.B. Du Bois, a founder of the N.A.A.C.P., in 1958; she died the next year. His marriage to Jean Velez in 1964 ended in divorce in 1974. He married Lillian Hawthorne in 1975. She died in 2011.
In addition to his daughter, Stephanie, from his first marriage, he is survived by a stepdaughter, Pamela Velez, from his marriage to Ms. Velez; three stepsons, Marc, Rick and William Hawthorne; a sister, Allie Jean Wooten; and eight grandchildren.
Mr. Jones held to a simple but powerful credo. As he told The Cincinnati Enquirer in 2012, “The key to prevailing as a minority in a segregated, oppressive society is to not let the prevailing stereotypes define who you are.”
Sam Roberts, an obituaries reporter, was previously The Times’s urban affairs correspondent and is the host of “The New York Times Close Up,” a weekly news and interview program on CUNY-TV. @samrob12
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http://hosting-12821.tributes.com/show/108085953
Nathaniel Raphael Jones
May 13, 1926 - January 26, 2020
Cincinnati, Ohio
Judge Nathaniel Raphael Jones, loving father of William Hawthorne (D'Anna), Pamela Velez, Rick Hawthorne (Laura), Marc Hawthorne ( Celeste) and Stephanie Jones. .Passed Sunday, January 26, 2020 Age 93 years. Visitation on Wednesday, January 29, 2020 from 5:00 PM- until 8:00 PM at Corinthian Baptist Church, 1920 Tennessee Ave. Cincinnati, Ohio 45237 with a special Kappa Alpha Psi Memorial Service at 6:00pm. Also Visitation Thursday, January 30, 2020 from 10:00 AM until 12:00 PM at Corinthian Baptist Church with Full Military Services.
Special online condolences for family and friends may be expressed at http://www.jcbattleandsonsfuneralhome.com
His Life story:
The Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones, an internationally renowned retired federal judge, lawyer, and civil rights activist, was born in Youngstown, Ohio. His father worked in the steel city's steel mills and as a janitor. His mother was a homemaker and was employed as a domestic.
Judge Jones attended public school in Youngstown, Ohio and, after serving in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II, he received his undergraduate and law degrees at Youngstown State University through the G.I. Bill of Rights.
Judge Jones began his professional career as Executive Director of the Fair Employment Practices Commission of Youngstown, Ohio. A year after entering the general practice of law, he was the first African American appointed as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio in Cleveland.
In 1967, Judge Jones served as Assistant General Counsel to President Johnson's National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, also known as the Kerner Commission, which studied the causes of the urban riots of the Sixties. Afterward, Judge Jones returned to Youngstown to practice law as a founding partner in the law firm of Goldberg and Jones.
In 1969, NAACP Executive Director Roy Wilkins asked Jones to serve as the organization's General Counsel, a position he held from 1969 to 1979.
As General Counsel, Judge Jones coordinated the attack against northern school segregation, and twice argued the Detroit school case, Bradley v. Milliken before the U.S. Supreme Court. Judge Jones also spearheaded successful attacks against segregation in the nation's public schools across the country, directed the national response to the attacks against affirmative action, led an inquiry into discrimination against black servicemen in the military, and supervised the NAACP's defense in the Mississippi Boycott case, which led to a landmark Supreme Court decision that recognized the rights of individuals and organizations to engage in protests under the First Amendment.
Judge Jones was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit by President Carter in 1979 and served with great distinction for 23 years, publishing scores of opinions and law review articles of great significance, and serving on a number of government committees and special bodies.
In addition to his judicial duties, Judge Jones participated in a variety of activities, including serving as an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, instructor in the trial advocacy program at the Harvard Law School, and adjunct professor at the Criminal Law Institute of Atlanta University. Judge Jones has also lectured and judged moot court competitions at numerous law schools including Yale, New York University, and Georgetown. He is the holder of 17 honorary degrees.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Judge Jones played an important role in furthering the abolition of apartheid in South Africa. The drafters of South Africa's new constitution and laws consulted him, and he conferred with Nelson Mandela upon Mandela's release from 27 years of imprisonment.
Following his retirement from the Sixth Circuit in 2002, Judge Jones assumed a position as Of Counsel with Blank Rome LLP. He serves as honorary co-chair and director of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. He participates in a variety of other activities and has served as a member of the Toyota Motor Manufacturing, North America, Inc. Diversity Advisory Board, the KnowledgeWorks Foundation Board of Directors, and the Cincinnati Youth Collaborative Board of Directors.
Judge Jones has authored numerous articles and papers and has been the recipient of many honors and awards, including the prestigious 2002 Professionalism Award for the Sixth Circuit by the American Inns of Court; the 2002 Thurgood Marshall Award from the National Bar Association's Judicial Council, induction into the National Bar Association Hall of Fame, and in February 1997, he was recognized by the Chamber of Commerce as one of the "Great Living Cincinnatians."
Judge Jones memoir, Answering the Call: An Autobiography on the Modern Struggle to End Racial Segregation in America, published in 2016, is an extraordinary eyewitness account of the battle for racial equality in America. Judge Jones founded The Answering the Call to Justice Foundation in 2017 to provide new generations with the lessons and tools he learned in his long career so that they may continue the next leg of the journey toward racial justice in the twenty-first century.
On 2003, the Nathaniel R. Jones Federal Building and United States Courthouse opened in Youngstown, Ohio.
In 2016, Judge Jones was awarded the NAACP's 101st Spingarn Medal, the organization's highest honor, joining previous recipients that include U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Hank Aaron, and Oprah Winfrey.
Active and working until the end of his life, Jones made his final public appearance on November 14, 2019 at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center at a dinner tribute celebrating the renaming and re-launching of the Nathaniel R. Jones Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. Jones was a center co-founder in 2010.
Judge Jones was preceded in death by his wives Jean Graham Jones, who died in 1959; and Lillian Hawthorne Jones, who died in 2011; his parents, Nathaniel B. Jones and Lillian Brown Jones Rafe; a brother, Wellington Jones; and a sister, Eleanor Colclourght.
He is survived by a sister, Allie Jean Wooten, of Youngstown; daughters Stephanie Jones, of Washington, D.C., and East Walnut Hills, and Pamela Velez, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; sons Rick Hawthorne (Laura), of East Walnut Hills, and William Hawthorne (D'Anna) and Marc Hawthorne (Celeste), both of Atlanta, Georgia; former daughter-in-law Stephanie Hawthorne, of Atlanta, Georgia; foster son Charles Dawson (Rhonda) of Oakley, California; brother-in-law and sister-in-law James and Lula Graham of Riverview, Florida; grandchildren Lauren Hawthorne, Christopher Hawthorne, Brooke Hawthorne, Cory Hawthorne, Sydney Hawthorne, Tayler Hawthorne, James Haley and Trent Haley; and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.
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https://www.blankrome.com/publications/memoriam-judge-nathaniel-r-jones
In Memoriam: Judge Nathaniel R. Jones
January 27, 2020
Judge Jones
It is with great sadness that we share the news that our beloved colleague and friend Judge Nathaniel R. Jones passed away on Sunday, January 26, at age 93. Judge Jones joined Blank Rome in 2002 and served as our first Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer. He was integral in helping to foster and promote our rich culture of inclusion throughout the Firm, and selfless in sharing his time and unmatched perspective with so many of us who are better people for having known him. In collaboration with Chris Lewis and Sophia Lee—his successors in the Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer role—we have developed a thriving and nationally recognized diversity and inclusion program that reflects his vision and passion. In 2013, we developed the Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones Diversity and Inclusion Award, which is presented annually to a Blank Rome attorney or professional who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in promoting diversity and inclusion. We are grateful to have the opportunity to honor and remember Judge Jones through this important award that will forever bear his name.
In Judge Jones’ obituary, our Cincinnati Office Chair Michael Cioffi notes, “Nate Jones was the kind of hero America needed that (Martin Luther) King described as ‘an extremist for justice’ in ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail.’ Nate’s unwavering commitment to justice, equality, and the rule of law made him a great lawyer and great man. His genuine humility and everyday kindness made him loved by all, including those on the other side of the political spectrum. His life is an important lesson and model to us all.” We couldn’t agree more. While we have lost one of the brightest legal minds and civil rights advocates of our time, his groundbreaking work, steadfast compassion, and inspirational life and legacy will surely live on through the countless lives he has touched—both at Blank Rome and around the world.
A community visitation will be held at Corinthian Baptist Church, 1920 Tennessee Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio 45237, on Wednesday, January 29, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and Thursday, January 30, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
A Life-long Commitment to “Answering the Call”
“Being a lawyer was my calling, and that calling is the work for equal opportunity and justice for all our nation's citizens.” – Judge Nathanial R. Jones
Answering the Call
In 1962, Judge Jones became the first African American to be appointed as Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio in Cleveland. He held that position until his 1967 appointment as Assistant General Counsel to President Lyndon B. Johnson's National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, also known as the Kerner Commission.
Judge Jones went on to hold the position of general counsel of the NAACP from 1969 to 1979 where he directed all NAACP litigation. In addition to personally arguing several cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, he coordinated national efforts to end northern school segregation, to defend affirmative action, and to inquire into discrimination against black servicemen in the U.S. military. He also successfully coordinated the NAACP's defense on First Amendment grounds in the Mississippi Boycott case.
In 1979, President Jimmy Carter nominated Judge Jones to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He served on the court for 23 years, retiring in 2002.
An internationally renowned civil rights activist, Judge Jones played an important role in furthering the abolition of apartheid in South Africa. The drafters of South Africa’s new constitution and laws consulted him, and he conferred with Nelson Mandela upon Mandela’s release from 27 years of imprisonment.
Judge Jones joined Blank Rome in 2002, and we have been blessed and lucky to call him our colleague for nearly 18 years. During his time with us, Judge Jones served as our first Chief Officer of Diversity and Inclusion, creating the strong foundation for our diversity and inclusion program.
Judge Jones also taught trial advocacy at Harvard Law School and served as an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. He is the holder of 19 honorary degrees.
In 2003, in recognition of his outstanding career as a jurist and civil rights leader, Congress passed H.J. Res. 2 naming the Nathaniel R. Jones Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Youngstown, Ohio. In 2019, the University of Cincinnati College of Law renamed its Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice as the Judge Nathaniel R. Jones Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice (or the Jones Center), in his honor.
In May 2016, his memoir, Answering The Call: An Autobiography of the Modern Struggle to End Racial Discrimination in America, was published by The New Press. The book is described by its publishers as “an extraordinary eyewitness account from an unsung hero of the battle for racial equality in America.”
Judge Jones has received numerous awards and recognition for his tireless contributions to the civil rights movement and the legal industry, including:
The NAACP’s highest honor, the Spingarn Medal, 2016
The International Freedom Conductor Award from the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, 2016
The Federal Bar Association’s Pillar of Justice Award, 2014
The Nathaniel R. Jones American Inn of Court, chartered in Youngstown, Ohio, 2014.
The Children’s Defense Fund’s Changing the Odds Award, 2012
The Charles Hamilton Houston Medallion of Merit from the Washington Bar Association, 2011
Inducted into the Ohio Civil Rights Hall of Fame, 2010
Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.’s Laurel Wreath Award, 2009
The American Lawyer’s Lifetime Achievement Award, 2007
The Just The Beginning Foundation’s Trailblazer Award, 2006
The Annual Fellows Award from the American Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division, 2005
The Award of Excellence from the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund, 2004
The Ohio Bar Medal Award from the Ohio State Bar Association, 2003
Inducted into the National Bar Association Hall of Fame, 2002
Named a “Great Living Cincinnatian,” 1997
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https://www.naacp.org/latest/naacp-mourns-passing-legal-giant-judge-nathaniel-r-jones/
NAACP MOURNS PASSING OF LEGAL GIANT JUDGE NATHANIEL R. JONES
JANUARY 26, 2020
Baltimore, Maryland – Derrick Johnson, president and CEO, made the following statement about the passing of former U.S. Circuit Court Judge Nathaniel R. Jones today in Cincinnati:
“The entire NAACP family is devastated by this news. To the nation, he was a civil rights icon. To the NAACP, he was a beloved leader, colleague, and friend.
Judge Jones served as General Counsel to NAACP from 1969 until 1979. His vision and skill in navigating civil rights cases through the courts soon after passage of major civil rights laws is legendary and a model for civil rights practice today.
President Carter recognized his legal brilliance by appointing him to the U.S. Circuit Court for the Sixth Circuit in 1979, where “equal justice under law” served as his touchstone for 23 years.
After retiring from the bench, Judge Jones never slowed down. He continued to practice law and gave generously of his talents to advance the cause of civil rights.
In 2016, the NAACP bestowed its highest honor upon Judge Jones by awarding him the Spingarn Medal in his beloved Cincinnati.
In one of his last public appearances, Judge Jones offered keynote remarks at our 110th National Convention in Detroit. Fittingly, he spoke about the importance of federal judges who are committed to the progress we’ve made in civil rights.
Undoubtedly, Jones was and remains a universal pioneer for those in the fight for civil rights. His life and legacy reflect what it means to dedicate ourselves to the cause of liberty and justice for all.
We extend our prayers to his daughter, Stephanie Jones; his entire family; his many law clerks; and to the larger civil rights community.
Judge Jones’ autobiography is entitled, “Answering the Call.” On behalf of a nation, we will be eternally grateful to Judge Jones for answering that call and devoting his life to ensuring equality and justice for all.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathaniel_R._Jones
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