J. Charles Jones

Joseph Charles Jones (August 23, 1937 – December 27, 2019) was an American civil rights leader, attorney, co-founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and chairperson of the SNCC's direct action committee.

Jones was born in Chester, South Carolina. In 1961 Jones joined the Freedom Riders driving from Atlanta, Georgia, to Birmingham, Alabama; he was later arrested in Montgomery, Alabama. He led and participated in several sit-in movements during the 1960s. In 1966, Jones organized an activist organization called the Action Coordinating Committee to End Segregation in the Suburbs or ACCESS.

He was a graduate of Howard University Law School (1966). His mother was an English teacher, and his father a Presbyterian missionary who went to rural areas to speak to people about Christianity. His birth was unexpected so he was born at his parents' house.

Civil rights activism On February 1, 1960, after attending the National Youth Summit Conference in the Soviet Union, Jones learned of a sit-in protest at the Greensboro Woolworth staged by four black activists to peacefully confront racial segregation. At least 200 of his classmates joined in the first sit-in at the local Woolworth. Students from Livingston College joined in the movement as well, and went to Salisbury drug stores to sit-in. Two of the stores refused them service. with Ella Baker and many others at Shaw University in 1960. In response, the SNCC sent Jones, Charles Sherrod, Diane Nash, and Ruby Doris Smith to get arrested in order to carry out the committee's "jail, no bail" newly designed strategy, which was intended to prevent the movement from being financially disenfranchised by being jailed and having to pay money for bail.

On July 19, 1962, Jones obtained a permit and organized an integration protest at the all-white Tift Park in Albany, Georgia. The Albany park officials stated they had been tricked into allowing blacks to stage the protest at the park, stating that white people had submitted the permit and that they were not aware blacks would be present. The police chief refused to let them into the building, and King asked Abernathy to lead the activists in a prayer. The police chief stated that if they did not leave they would be arrested. Jones proceeded to kneel and read from a written prayer. which decided that segregated public buses were unconstitutional.

We got on the bus, we went further south, and the crowds of angry white folk started to get bigger and bigger. I heard my grandma's spirit say, "You're God's child; you're as good as any of them." — J. Charles Jones

March on Washington In 1963, Jones participated in the planning for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. He recalled attending the I Have a Dream speech by King, and was struck with awe at the number of people who showed up.

I had never seen that many people. I said 'Oh my God.' My spirit just began to lift and lift and lift, and I was awed at that moment at what was happening. — J. Charles Jones With a group of fellow activists he marched the entire of Georgia Avenue. Jones stated the apartments around the Beltway, were essentially creating a "white ghetto surrounding the black ghetto". Charlotte City Councilman Justin Harlow described Jones after his death as "a true stalwart in advocacy".