Orlando Native

Pioneering Family

Vicki Brooks has been a leader in Orlando, FL for most of her life. Brooks was born into a family of trailblazers, on January 18, 1948, just off Westmoreland Dr., in downtown Orlando. Her grandparents, Sam and Penny Jones helped to found Orlando’s first African American community, Jonestown, in 1880. Brooks’ father, Lt. Richard Arthur Jones, was the first black officer hired by the Orlando Police Department, and was the bodyguard assigned to Dr. Martin Luther King for his 1964 visit to Orlando. As a teenager, Brooks worked for the Orange County Library System at the Booker T. Washington Branch. She next completed her bachelor’s and master’s degrees, ultimately working as a media specialist then a school principal in Orange County, FL. Brooks has campaigned to highlight the importance of voting for most of her adult life, by going door to door, as a poll worker, registering voters, and by speaking at schools – remaining true to the leadership DNA of her family heritage.