Thomas R. Jones

Thomas Russell Jones, Jr. (August 5, 1913 – October 27, 2006) was an African-American member of the New York State Assembly, a justice of the New York Supreme Court, and a leading civil rights activist for black Americans in slums of Northern cities.

Career Jones graduated from St. John's University and from St. John's University School of Law. He was admitted to the bar in 1938.

Jones worked with U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy in an effort to improve squalor conditions in ghettos and slums in New York. Underestimating Kennedy's genuine desire to help, and mindful that many other outsiders had come to Bedford–Stuyvesant, examined conditions there, then left without doing anything to help, Jones said cynically, I'm weary of study, Senator. Weary of speeches, weary of promises that aren't kept... The Negro people are angry, Senator, and, judge that I am, I'm angry, too. No one is helping us.

Jones became the first president of Kennedy's bipartisan grassroots community effort, one of two restoration companies (one for community leaders and one for businessmen) that Kennedy helped found for Bedford–Stuyvesant. The objective was to build health clinics, redevelop housing, build parks and playgrounds, spur commercial activity and investment, and increase employment and political participation amongst the residents. In 1967, Jones helped found the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, which grew out of the initial Kennedy effort. The assassination of Kennedy devastated Jones, and it led him to focus more on his judicial career instead of community rebuilding.

Jones retired from the bench in 1985.

Personal life Jones was born on August 5, 1913, in Brooklyn, New York City, the son of Thomas Russell Jones, Sr. and Mabel (Ward) Jones, immigrants from Barbados. In 1941, he married his wife, Bertha K. Jones, with whom he had a son, David, and a daughter, Margaret. Jones died on October 27, 2006, of prostate cancer, survived by his wife, son and daughter, and five grandchildren.

In other media Jones was portrayed by actor Ving Rhames in the 2002 TV movie RFK.