Murder of little known civil rights activist remains mystery 52 years later

In 1965, Alberta Jones was brutally beaten and thrown into the Ohio River to drown. She was 34 years old.

Luther Vandross was outed as gay after his death.

During her life, Alberta Jones was responsible for registering thousands of African-American voters in the 1960s and paved the way for a ban that would prevent theaters and lunch counters from discriminating against patrons for their race. She was also Louisville’s first Black prosecutor and negotiated the first fight contract for Muhammad Ali, who happened to be her neighbor.

Then, in 1965, she was brutally beaten and thrown into the Ohio River to drown. She was 34 years old.

Now, Professor Lee Remington has been studying the life of this civil rights pioneer and is embarking on a “quest for justice,” reports the New York Times.

Through her efforts working with the Louisville Police Department, the police have reopened the case and the Justice Department’s civil rights division has agreed to look into Jones’ death.

“I believe her death was directly related to the work she was doing,” said Professor Remington, who teaches at Bellarmine University in Louisville. “If there was a list of people she would have stood up to and made mad, it would be five pages long.”

Still, 52 years later, it’s not certain whether Jones’ case will ever be solved, as witnesses have long been dead and evidence has since disappeared. Still, Remington hopes that someone out there is still living who can come forward with information.

“She spent her whole life fighting for others,’’ she said. “It’s time somebody started fighting for her.”

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