MLK Speechwriter Returns Virtually to Juilliard

By Christina Salgado

An illustrious member of the Juilliard community reconnected virtually this winter to talk with President Damian Woetzel. Clarence B. Jones studied in the summer high school program in the 1940s and was later a lawyer and speechwriter for Martin Luther King Jr. He joined Woetzel for a wide-ranging talk called “Living King’s Legacy” a year after having received a Juilliard President’s Medal. The new conversation was aired as part of SphinxConnect, a convening of industry leaders to talk about how to support change and further in equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging in music. (Find out more about Juilliard’s partnership with the Sphinx Organization.)

This year’s conversation highlighted the connection between arts and social change, and Jones shared personal stories that captured the struggle of Black Americans during the civil rights movement. He also discussed his love for music and how it had inspired him to have courage in difficult times. And he described how music training enhanced his ability to draft speeches: “with Dr. King, I could hear his voice when I was away from him. I could retain the sound of that hearing in his voice, which enabled me to write for him in a tonality that was most comfortable for him.” 

Jones closed with a call for genuine communication through art, saying that artists should give their audiences “a sense of hope, make them hear the purity and sound of a note that they never heard before, make them hear a harmony that they never heard before, make them see a dance movement that they never even thought possible before.”

Christina Salgado is director for equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging initiatives

>Click here to see the video of this conversation