When he answered the phone and heard the caller say they were coming from the White House, Clarence B. Jones claims he thought a prank was on the range.
” I said,’ Is this a prank or is this critical?'” Jones recalled. The guest vowed to be serious and was reporting that President Joe Biden wanted to award Jones with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian award.
Jones, 93, will been honored for his engagement during the Civil Rights Movement. He is a lawyer who assisted with the writing of the starting lines of King’s” I Have a Dream” statement at the 1963 March on Washington and provided constitutional lawyers to Martin Luther King Jr.
Jones is among a diverse team of 19 individuals to be honored Friday by the Democratic senator for making what the White House said are “exemplary contributions to the growth, values, or safety of the United States, earth peace, or other major societal, public or private endeavors”.
The 10 people and nine people hail from the kingdoms of politics, sports, entertainment, legal privileges and LGBTQ+ campaigning, science and religion. Three awards will be awarded subsequently.
 ,” These nineteen Americans built groups, partnerships, activities, agencies, and organizations that shaped America for the better”, the news from the White House said. They represent their field’s height of authority. They regularly demonstrated over their jobs the power of society, hard work, and knowledge”.
, D- Calif.
In the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, Clyburn’s endorsement of his long-time friend Biden is credited with helping Biden win a dazzling victory there that helped him win the party’s nomination and ultimately the White House. Bloomberg mounted a short- lived bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
Dole, a Republican, also held the office of president of the American Red Cross and served as transportation secretary and labor secretary for North Carolina in the Senate. She currently runs a foundation that helps military personnel.
Pelosi is the first and only woman to be elected to the speaker’s position, placing her second in the line of succession to the presidency.
As the NAACP’s first field officer in the state, Medgar Evers will be honored posthumously for his contributions to segregation in Mississippi more than six decades ago. He was 37 when he was fatally shot in the driveway of his home in June 1963.
Michelle Yeoh won the Academy Award for best actress for her role in” Everything, Everywhere All at Once” last year, making her the first Asian woman to do so.
The first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal for the United States was Jim Thorpe, who passed away in 1953.
Judy Shepard co- founded the Matthew Shepard Foundation, named after her son, a gay 21- year- old University of Wyoming student who died in 1998 after he was beaten and tied to a fence.
Jones said he felt “very touched” after he digested what the caller had said.
” I’m 93 years old with some health challenges, but I woke up this morning thanks to the grace of God”, he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Thursday. ” I’m anticipating everything the White House wants me to do.”
The other medal winners are:
— Gregory Boyle, a Jesuit Catholic priest who founded and runs Homeboy Industries, a gang- intervention and rehabilitation program.
— Phil Donahue, a journalist and former daytime TV talk- show host.
— Katie Ledecky, the most decorated female swimmer in history.
— Opal Lee, an activist who is best known for pushing for the designation of Juneteenth as a national holiday. Biden did so in 2021.
— Ellen Ochoa, the second female director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center and the first Hispanic woman in space.
— Jane Rigby, an astronomer who is chief scientist of the world’s most powerful telescope. She grew up in Delaware, Biden’s home state.
— Teresa Romero, the first Hispanic woman to lead a national union in the United States. The union supports Biden’s bid for reelection and supports him in 2020.
In 2022, Biden presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 17 people, including gymnast Simone Biles, the late Sen. John McCain, R- Ariz., and gun- control advocate Gabby Giffords.
Biden is also aware of the medal’s sentiments. As president, Barack Obama presented Biden, his vice president, with the medal a week before their administration ended in 2017.
