Judge Sidney A. Jones, Jr. papers

Biographical/historical note

Judge Sidney A. Jones, Jr. (1909-1993) was a Chicago attorney, alderman, and Cook County Circuit Court judge. Jones was born in Sandersville, Georgia and later moved with his family to Savannah, Georgia. He graduated from Atlanta University in 1928 and from Northwestern University Law School in 1931. While at Northwestern, Jones became a member of the fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha of which he was an active member until his death. After law school, Jones practiced law in Chicago and was a Senior Attorney for the United States Department of Labor from 1939 to 1946.

Jones won election as alderman of the 6th Ward in Chicago in 1955. In 1960, he was elected Cook County Circuit Court judge and was re-elected until his retirement from the bench in 1980. After this retirement, Jones became an adjunct professor of law at DePaul University College of Law until 1983. Mayor Harold Washington appointed Jones director of the city License Commission in 1983. Jones stayed in the mayoral cabinet until 1989. Jones was a member of the Chicago Bar Association, National Bar Association, past President of the Cook County Bar Association, served on the Board of Directors of the Chicago Boys Club, life member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, and was legal counsel of the Fourth Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.