On February 1, 1960, after attending the
National Youth Summit Conference in the Soviet Union, Jones learned of a
sit-in protest at the
Greensboro Woolworth staged by four black activists to peacefully confront racial segregation. At least 200 of his classmates joined in the first sit-in at the local
Woolworth. Students from
Livingston College joined in the movement as well, and went to Salisbury drug stores to sit-in. Two of the stores refused them service. with
Ella Baker and many others at
Shaw University in 1960. In response, the SNCC sent Jones,
Charles Sherrod,
Diane Nash, and
Ruby Doris Smith to get arrested in order to carry out the committee's "jail, no bail" newly designed strategy, which was intended to prevent the movement from being financially disenfranchised by being jailed and having to pay money for bail. On July 19, 1962, Jones obtained a permit and organized an
integration protest at the all-white Tift Park in
Albany, Georgia. The Albany park officials stated they had been tricked into allowing blacks to stage the protest at the park, stating that white people had submitted the permit and that they were not aware blacks would be present. The police chief refused to let them into the building, and King asked Abernathy to lead the activists in a prayer. The police chief stated that if they did not leave they would be arrested. Jones proceeded to kneel and read from a written prayer. which decided that segregated public buses were unconstitutional. We got on the bus, we went further south, and the crowds of angry white folk started to get bigger and bigger. I heard my grandma's spirit say, "You're God's child; you're as good as any of them." — J. Charles Jones
March on Washington In 1963, Jones participated in the planning for the
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. He recalled attending the
I Have a Dream speech by King, and was struck with awe at the number of people who showed up. I had never seen that many people. I said 'Oh my God.' My spirit just began to lift and lift and lift, and I was awed at that moment at what was happening. — J. Charles Jones With a group of fellow activists he marched the entire of
Georgia Avenue. Jones stated the apartments around the Beltway, were essentially creating a "white ghetto surrounding the black ghetto". The protest march took four days to complete. In 1967, Jones attended a meeting with the eighth
U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. Jones believed this was a viable way to solve the segregation of black people from white landlords as the military had the power to make apartments which refused to rent to black people off limits to all military personnel. Such a move would financially motivate the apartments to change their racially discriminatory policies. In June 1967, Secretary of Defense McNamara followed through on Jones' suggestion and banned all service members from residing at any apartment which was segregated within a radius of the
Andrews Air Force Base Air traffic control tower. ==Later life and legacy==