Joseph Newman Clinton (November 19, 1854[1] – 1927) was a politician and public official in Florida.

An African American, he served in the Florida House of Representatives from Alachua County from 1881 to 1883,[2] was a member of the city council in Gainesville from 1883 to 1885, and was a federal official in Pensacola[3] and Tampa.

[4] He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of an African Methodist Episcopal Church bishop.

[3] He went to high school at the Institute for Colored Youth and graduated from Lincoln University in 1873.

[5] In 1913, Woodrow Wilson removed African Americans in the South from federal offices.