2022 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 43
BY SENATORS FIELDS, ABRAHAM, ALLAIN, BARROW, BERNARD,
BOUDREAUX, BOUIE, CARTER, CATHEY, CLOUD, CONNICK,
CORTEZ, FESI, FOIL, HARRIS, HENRY, HENSGENS, HEWITT,
JACKSON, LAMBERT, LUNEAU, MCMATH, MILLIGAN, FRED
MILLS, ROBERT MILLS, MIZELL, MORRIS, PEACOCK, POPE,
PRICE, REESE, SMITH, STINE, TALBOT, TARVER, WARD, WHITE
AND WOMACK
A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
To express the sincere condolences of the Legislature of Louisiana upon the passing of
Johnnie A. Jones Sr. and to gratefully acknowledge his extraordinary career of public
service on behalf of the citizens of Louisiana.
WHEREAS, Johnnie A. Jones Sr. was a uniquely talented civil rights lawyer and
decorated veteran who provided many decades of public service to his beloved Louisiana;
and
WHEREAS, his storied legacy began in Laurel Hill, Louisiana, where Johnnie A.
Jones was born November 30, 1919, to a family of local farmers on Rosemound Plantation,
and though his parents stressed the importance of education, they also instilled in him the
value of hard work; and
WHEREAS, Johnnie worked hard to earn the $17.50 tuition to attend high school at
Southern University Demonstration School, which was later named Southern University Lab
School, and after graduating, he went on to major in industrial education at Southern
University, and in 1942, he was drafted by the United States Army where he became the
Army's first African-American warrant officer assigned to a unit responsible for unloading
equipment and supplies onto the Normandy beaches in France; and
WHEREAS, during the June 6, 1944, invasion as Jones came ashore on Omaha
Beach, he came under fire from a German sniper, he grabbed his weapon, returned fire, and
this became a memory that haunted him all his life; he continued to exhibit bravery as he
served his country; thereafter, a ship that he was stationed on hit a mine and Johnnie was
blown from the second deck to the first deck; it was during this attack he was hit with
shrapnel and badly injured; and
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WHEREAS, by the end of World War II, more than a million African Americans
were in uniform including the famed Tuskegee Airmen and the 761st Tank Battalion, but
these heros returned from the war only to encounter discrimination in their home country;
and
WHEREAS, these events served as a call to action to fight racism in which Johnnie
obtained a law degree from Southern University Law School, was recruited in 1953 to be the
spokesperson for the NAACP, and helped organize a bus boycott in Baton Rouge and defend
the participants; an event used by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as the basis for a
larger bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, several years later; and
WHEREAS, in his law practice Jones provided legal aid to students arrested during
sit-ins; defended the Southern University students who staged the lunch counter protest at
the Kress department store in downtown Baton Rouge, and he helped desegregate the
courthouse; and
WHEREAS, in his quest to obtain equality for African Americans in the United
States, Jones' vehicle was bombed twice, but he persevered and was an active participant in
the social justice movement that would widely impact future generations; and
WHEREAS, Jones' many accolades include the Sign Post To Freedom award from
the Odell S. Williams Museum/Sadie Roberts Joseph; a special recognition from Governor
John Bel Edwards; SAVE BR Youth Prayer Movement; Taking A Seat For Justice-Award
of Excellence; Southern University National Lawyers Guild, Pillar Award; Chairman Award,
Civil Rights Icon, Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus Foundation; Louis A. Martinet
Society, Lifetime Achievement; the Louisiana Black History Hall of Fame; and Baton Rouge
Chapter of The Links, Louisiana Role Model; and
WHEREAS, in 2020, the French government presented Johnnie A. Jones Sr. with the
Legion of Honor award for his World War II service and though it took decades for Jones'
sacrifice and courage during World War II to be recognized, in 2021 at the age of one
hundred one, he finally received his Purple Heart, which is awarded to U.S. service members
killed or wounded in action; and
WHEREAS, Johnnie A. Jones Sr. was a man who lived an exceptional life and the
value of his service to his country and to his state cannot be measured.
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THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
express sincere and heartfelt condolences to the family of Johnnie A. Jones Sr. and does
gratefully acknowledge his extraordinary career of miliary service and dedication to civil
rights.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
family of Johnnie A. Jones Sr.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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