Youngstown native Judge Nathaniel Jones receives top NAACP award

CINCINNATI — Nathaniel Jones’ magical year continued this week.

The Youngstown native, former federal judge and lifelong civil-rights advocate, received the Spingarn Medal, the NAACP’s greatest honor Wednesday night.

Anthony Foxx, U.S secretary of transportation, presented Jones with the medal at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s Freedom Fund Dinner.

“At every point when his country needed him, Nathaniel Jones answered the call,” said Foxx, a former law clerk for Jones.

Jones read from prepared remarks.

“I am reminded how my life’s work has been shaped by the mission of this organization,” he said. “Being a lawyer was my calling, and that calling is the work for equal opportunity and justice for all our nation’s citizens.”

This year, Jones celebrated his 90th birthday, received the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center’s highest award and published his memoir.

Jones, a Youngstown South High School graduate, has lived in Cincinnati since being appointed in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter to the 6th U.S. Court of Appeals.

The Spingarn Medal has been given annually since 1915, with only a few exceptions, to one individual. The distinguished list of recipients includes George Washington Carver, Marian Anderson, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, Jackie Robinson and Martin Luther King Jr.