Alberta Odell Jones facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Alberta Odell Jones
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| Born | November 12, 1930 |
| Died | August 5, 1965 (aged 34) Louisville, Kentucky
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| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Louisville Municipal College Howard University School of Law |
| Occupation | Attorney, Activist |
Alberta Odell Jones (November 12, 1930 – August 5, 1965) was an African-American attorney and civil rights icon. She was one of the first African-American women to pass the Kentucky bar and the first woman appointed city attorney in Jefferson County. She was murdered by an unknown person.
Education
Jones graduated from Louisville Central High School and went to the Louisville Municipal College (LMC), it later merged with the University of Louisville during desegregation. Jones graduated third in her class. She attended the University of Louisville Law School for one year, transferring to Howard University School of Law for her degree, graduating fourth in her class.
After graduating she began practicing law and took on a prominent client early in her career, a young boxer who later changed his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammed Ali, introducing him to trainer Archie Moore of California. She was appointed in February 1965 to the Louisville Domestic Relations Court, where she was a prosecutor.
Activist
Jones was active in the civil rights movement, taking part in protest marches in Louisville and attending the March on Washington in August 1963. Upon returning from Washington she formed the Independent Voters Association of Louisville and was very involved with the Louisville chapter of the Urban League. She rented voting machines and taught African Americans how to use the machines to vote. She was also active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Another of her causes was a fundraising effort to pay the medical bills of a young man, James "Bulky" Welch, who lost his arms saving his dog trapped under a train, purchasing him prosthetic arms by auctioning a car.eople from Louisville, Kentucky]]
