SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
He helped craft one of the most iconic speeches of the 20th century.
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MARTIN LUTHER KING JR: I have a dream that one day...
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Yes.
KING: ...This nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed. We hold these us to be self-evident - that all men are created equal.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Yes.
(CHEERING)
DETROW: Clarence B. Jones was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s personal attorney, adviser and his speech writer. He was 32 years old in 1963, when he helped King draft his "I Have A Dream" address. In 2023, I spoke to Jones about that historic moment and about his broader work with King. Jones told me he actually said no when King first approached him about working together, but Jones changed his mind pretty quickly after attending one of King's sermons.
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CLARENCE B JONES: I pulled him close to me, still tears running down my cheek, and I said, Dr. King, when do you want me to go to Montgomery, Alabama?
DETROW: You were in from that moment on.
JONES: In, in, in.
DETROW: Jones was known for his behind-the-scenes role in the Civil Rights Movement. When King was arrested in Alabama in April 1963, it was Jones who smuggled out the scraps of paper that would become King's letter from Birmingham jail. Jones also helped organize that 1963 march on Washington, which culminated, of course, in King's "I Have A Dream" speech.
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KING: I have a dream today.
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JONES: When you see a Black Baptist preacher start rubbing his feet up and down slowly and you see him do that while he's preaching...
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KING: I have a dream that one day (ph)...
JONES: ...You translate that the music - that's like watching Charlie Parker or Dizzy Gillespie. It's like, that's when you say the brother is going to take it away.
DETROW: Jones was in his early 90s when we spoke three years ago. Many of his peers from the Civil Rights era were no longer around. Given that, I asked him if he felt like he had an extra responsibility.
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JONES: As long as I have any breath in my body, I have an obligation to carry on the work of Fannie Lou Hamer, Harry Belafonte, all of those people like Fred Shuttlesworth and the legacy of those four beautiful girls that were murdered on September 15. I mean, what's the sense of being gifted with a certain amount of longevity if I'm going to sit on my butt and do nothing, OK? I'm not about sitting on my behind. When I know the legacy of all that's gone before, I cannot do that.
DETROW: Clarence B. Jones died last week in Cupertino, California. He was 95 years old.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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