Washington Post publishes photo of Jerry Jones at racist Little Rock Six confrontation

The Washington Post published a Jerry Jones photo showing the Dallas Cowboys owner in the crowd of the North Little Rock Six incident in 1957.

An image floating around for 65 years has come back to haunt Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. This isn’t a photo that was taken in private or secret that has been used for blackmail, but instead an Associated Press photo of the North Little Rock Six incident in which racist white students tried to prevent Black classmates from entering their school following the desegregation of schools in the south.

Somehow nobody has noticed since now, but the Washington Post published the photo showing that Jones was part of the crowd.

Jones is shown toward the back of the group in the photo and isn’t one of the students standing in the way of the doorway. Nevertheless, Jones was indeed present at the incident and appears to be an active onlooker, if not a participant.

Jerry Jones photo reveals Cowboys owner was at North Little Rock Six incident

If there was any question about whether or not the person in the photo is Jones, the Cowboys owner confirmed it himself. Upon the publication of the image, Jones acknowledged and commented on why he was part of the crowd that day.

“I didn’t know that I or anybody anticipated or had a background of knowing…what was in evolved. It was more of a curious thing,” Jones said, via the Washington Post.

For what it’s worth, Jones was apparently tipped off ahead of time that the incident could be a significant moment. According to the Washington Post, Jones’ football coach at the time warned his players — including a 14-year-old Jones — that he didn’t want any of his players caught at the front of the line.

Per The Post:

"The head coach, Jim Albright, had warned there might be trouble and said he “didn’t want to see any of you knot-heads near the front of that school tomorrow.”"

What was the North Little Rock Six incident?

In 1954, the Supreme Court made the historic Brown v. The Board of Education decision which ruled that segregation at schools in the south was unconstitutional. Following this decision, the NAACP began registering Black students in white southern schools, which was met with resistance and incidents of white students trying to block or intimidate Black students upon entering their schools.

The Little Rock Six was one of the many incidents of such racist resistance by white southerners in the late 50s. It wasn’t the most famous incident that occurred in Arkansas, however, as the Little Rock Nine is remembered as being more historically significant.