Alberta Jones was the first Black woman prosecutor in Louisville, KY, and a true champion in the community and Civil Rights Movement.
Not only did she secure Muhammad Ali’s first contract, but she registered thousands of Black people to vote, teaching them how to use their voices in this way. Unsurprisingly, this put a target on her back.
On the night of August 5, 1965, tragedy struck. Alberta Jones was pulled out of her car, then pounded in the head with a brick! Her body was then tossed into the Ohio River, where she ultimately drowned. The investigation was meager, and no one was ever charged with the murder.
Though the 34-year-old Alberta Jones’ life was brutally taken from us, and far too soon, she spent the time she did have fighting for the rights of Black people. And it truly made a difference.
If you want to learn more about Jones’ story and others like hers, check out PBS FRONTLINE’s Un(re)solved podcast and interactive web experience. It tells the stories of Black lives cut short and examines a federal effort to grapple with America’s legacy of racist killings through the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act. Visit www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/unresolved for more details.
Additionally, a live interactive exhibition will launch this year at two Mississippi museums (the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum) on Saturday August 28th – the anniversary of Emmett Till’s death, and will remain there until October 24. You can find more details about that at https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/unresolved/events.