CINCINNATI -- Retired federal Judge Nathaniel Jones, a pivotal figure in the civil rights movement, collapsed Wednesday morning after an hour-and-a-half panel discussion at the 107th annual NAACP Convention.
Medical staff at the Duke Energy Convention Center checked out the 90-year-old Jones; he was overheated and a bit dehydrated, his assistant, Becky Bomkamp, said.
Jones, along with several other experienced judges, had been speaking about the role courts play in the fight for civil rights.
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Bomkamp said Jones is back to his normal activities and will be in attendance Wednesday night to be honored with the NAACP's Spingarn Medal for his work advancing civil rights. It is the organization's highest honor. Other recipients of the award have included U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Hank Aaron, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Oprah Winfrey.
Here in Cincinnati, Jones is best known for the more than two decades he spent as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Former President Jimmy Carter nominated him to the bench, and Jones served from 1979 until he retired in 2002.
