Community festival in Louisville's California neighborhood celebrates Alberta Jones

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A civil rights pioneer was honored Saturday through a festival celebrating her life and legacy.

The Parks Alliance of Louisville hosted a community festival in honor of the life of Alberta Jones. She was a pioneering civil rights champion and attorney.

More than 40 community organizations and nonprofits participated in activities and resources for those in the California neighborhood.

"When we did our Parks for All study the number one thing that folks in this community said that they wanted to see in their public parks was community events," said Brooke Pardue, president of Parks Alliance of Louisville.

Jones helped educate thousands of African Americans on how to vote. She was also the lawyer who negotiated the most lucrative sports deal of her time for her neighbor, Muhammad Ali. She also helped register voters in the 60s.

In 1965, Jones was beaten and thrown into the Ohio River off the Sherman Minton Bridge. The murder has remained a mystery despite a suspect and a fingerprint.

A "Hometown Hero" banner was unveiled for Jones in October 2017. It hangs on the side of the River City Bank building at the corner of Sixth Street and Muhammad Ali Boulevard in downtown Louisville.

Last year, the first phase of the Alberta O. Jones Park in the city's California neighborhood was completed and opened. It features a mosaic of her portrait composed of hundreds of individual photographs celebrating the California neighborhood. The park was also the first in the city to have complementary, high-speed Wi-Fi.

After the festival, Redline Performing Arts, in coordination with Actors Theatre, performed the world premiere of the play, "Who Killed Alberta Jones?"

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