Judge to speak at NAACP event

Photo

Promoters of the annual Freedom Fund Banquet planned by Youngstown Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People are, from left, Sandra Bean, banquet co-chairperson; Steven Michel, branch president; Gwendlyn Fish; publicity chairperson; and Juanita Byrd, Freedom Fund chairperson. Photo by: ROBERT K. YOSAY | THE VINDICATOR

YOUNGSTOWN

Nathaniel R. Jones, retired U.S. Court of Appeals judge for the Sixth Circuit of Appeals, will be keynote speaker at the Youngstown Branch of the NAACP’s 94th annual Freedom Fund Banquet.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People event is planned for 7 p.m. Oct. 12 at Mahoning Country Club, 710 E. Liberty St., Girard.

The theme is “Your Power, Your Decision — Vote.”

The NAACP is seeking financial support through ads in the souvenir booklet and the purchase of tickets. Ads are due by Friday. Contact the NAACP office at 330-782-9777.

Juanita Byrd is Freedom Fund chairperson; the Rev. Dr. Morris W. Lee, honorary chairperson; and Steven E. Mickel, president of the Youngstown branch.

In honor of the Youngs-town native, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution naming the Nathaniel R. Jones Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Youngstown on Feb. 20, 2003.

Judge Jones was inducted into Ohio’s Civil Rights Hall of Fame for his lifetime work of promoting civil and human rights throughout the state. He was the first African-American to serve as assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio in the 1960s and later served for 10 years as general counsel for the NAACP. He argued several school desegregation, race discrimination and affirmative-action cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Judge Jones attended Youngstown public schools then served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. He graduated from Youngstown State University with bachelor and law degrees. He was admitted to the Ohio Bar in 1957.

From 1956-59, he was executive director of Fair Employment Practices Commission of the city of Youngstown. He went into private law practice and later was appointed as assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio in Cleveland. In 1967, he served as assistant general counsel to President Lyndon Johnson’s National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders. He was general counsel of the NAACP from 1969-79.

President Jimmy Carter appointed Judge Jones to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on Oct. 15, 1979. He retired in March 2002. He then took the position as chief diversity and inclusion officer with Blank Rome, working from December 2006 to June 2011.

He serves as honorary co-chairman and director of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati after serving as co-chairman until its opening in August 2004.

He is an internationally known civil-rights activist. He participated in the abolition of apartheid in South Africa. Judge Jones also met with Nelson Mandela upon his release from prison.

Judge Jones has authored numerous articles and papers and received various honors.

He is the recipient of the Charles Hamilton Houston Medallion of Merit from the Washington Bar Association and Washington Bar Association Educational Foundation.