LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Each year, a Louisvillian who works to make our community better is selected to receive one of the city's highest honors.
The 2020 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Award winner, Mattie Jones, has spent her life fighting for justice and equality.
"She marched with Dr. King and was in Memphis the day he was assassinated," Mayor Greg Fischer said.
Jones was honored during "Keepers of the Dream," a celebration of arts, culture and achievement in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior.
"Dr. King envisioned a world where every person has every opportunity to realize their full human potential," Fischer said.
Jones has worked toward that vision for the last six decades as a civil rights activist.
"When some people asked me for a bio, I said I don't have one," Jones said. "I don't need a bio, let my work speak for me."
In 1973 Jones became a founding member of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. She drew attention to systemic racism and called for policy changes. Jones and her husband had nine children and raised 120 foster children.
Jones says we've come a long way, but believes Louisville still has a lot more work to do to make Dr. King's dream a reality.
"We are at a high rate with our killings, we're at a bad rate with our school system and we just have not fulfilled the dream or started really attacking the dream," she said. "Because we must save our children, they're the next generation."
Jones is described as tough, fierce and a trailblazer. Sunday evening, she got emotional talking about the community support and the significance of the award.
"Normally I don't have any problem of trying to get my message across, but I say today is a happy day. I am totally filled up."
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