LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Louisville pioneer and civil rights champion was honored Saturday at what will be a brand new park.
It was called Alberta O. Jones Park Day at the newly-constructed 20-acre park in the California neighborhood on Maple Street.
The free family event honored Jones who was the first Black woman to attend UofL's Law School and the first Black woman to pass the Kentucky bar exam.
She attended Central High School and the Louisville Municipal College for Negros, which merged with the University of Louisville in 1951. Jones graduated third in her class.
Jones became the first Black person to attend University of Louisville's Brandeis School of Law, and then transferred to Howard University, where she graduated fourth in her class in 1958.
Saturday, her sister helped unveil a painting of Jones that will be part of a photomosaic in the park.
"She would want to know what did she do," Flora Shanklin said. "She was very modest. What did she do to deserve this recognition, that would be her first 'What did I do?' Nothing she did, she didn't think about what she was doing was going to make history."
The parks alliance said Alberta Jones Day will be an annual event. The first section of the park will be completed by the end of the year.
Jones was a Civil Rights ambassador and helped Muhammad Ali's negotiate his first professional contract. Jones formed the Independent Voters Association of Louisville. She rented voting machines to teach Black Louisvillians how to vote. Jones was murdered in 1965 when she was 34 years old. Her murder has never been solved.
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- Construction begins on Alberta Jones Park in Louisville's California neighborhood
- New park west Louisville will be named after first Black woman to pass Kentucky Bar exam
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