Linzey D. Jones Sr. Personal Papers, 1946-1948, 1993, 1998, 2005 | University of Illinois Archives

Linzey D. Jones Sr. was a civil rights activist who attended the University of Illinois from 1945 to 1948. He enrolled after leaving the army at the end of World War II, where he was one of the few African-Americans accepted in Officer’s Candidate School. While enrolled, he was elected as the first Student Co-Chairman of the Student-Community Interracial Committee where he helped organize boycotts of several restaurants that discriminated against black customers. After graduating, Jones became a steelworker in Chicago and eventually went to law school. He became a leading advocate for state legislative changes that improved benefits for injured workers and was appointed by the Governor of Illinois to serve as a Commissioner of the Illinois Industrial Commision from 1990 to 1995.

Civil Rights
Student-Community Interracial Committee