Clarence B. Jones, civil rights activist who helped write MLK’s ‘I Have A Dream’ speech, dies at 95

U.S. newsClarence B. Jones, civil rights activist who helped write MLK’s ‘I Have A Dream’ speech, dies at 95Jones was one of the organizers of the 1963 March on Washington where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the epic speech and helped push for the passage of the Voting Rights Act.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Clarence B. Jones testifies in Washington in 1971.Bettmann ArchiveShareAdd NBC News to GoogleMay 26, 2026, 3:06 PM EDTBy Corky SiemaszkoClarence B. Jones, a top civil rights activist and lawyer who helped write part of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s celebrated “I Have a Dream” speech, has died. He was 95.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Jones was one of the organizers of the 1963 March on Washington where King delivered the epic speech and helped push for the passage of the Voting Rights Act two years later which lifted legal barriers preventing African-Americans from voting.Till his death Friday at an assisted living facility in Cupertino, California, Jones remained a keeper of King’s legacy and a vocal critic of attempts to undermine the gains African-Americans have made since the Civil Rights battles in the 1960s.Dr. Clarence B. Jones at his home in California in 2023. Demetrius Philp for The Washington Post via Getty ImagesJust last month, Jones criticized President Donald Trump’s push to redraw Congressional maps as an effort to weaken Black voting power.“The problem is, Trump is living in a world that doesn’t exist anymore,” Jones said during an appearance at the 69th San Francisco International Film Festival. “Sure you’re going to have some blips,” Jones said. “But more powerful than the march of mighty armies is an idea whose time has come. More powerful than the march of many armies or that d--- head called President Trump.”Jones was at the festival because he was the subject of a documentary called “The Baddest Speechwriter in the World,” which was directed b...