Dr. Jacqueline L. Jackson, Civil, Human and Women's Rights Advocate, Rainbow PUSH Coalition
Mrs. Jacqueline Jackson was a student under the administration of Dr. Lewis C. Dowdy and Dr. Samuel D. Proctor, who became a mentor to Rev. and Mrs. Jackson and helped chart their political direction.
Born in Fort Pierce, Florida, Jacqueline Jackson entered North Carolina A&T at the age of 17 where she met her husband, Rev. Jackson and to this union five children were born of which three are Aggies. Her major was sociology and psychology.
For more than 50 years, Mrs. Jackson has traveled to all parts of Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, Latin America, and she was arrested for civil disobedience, and detained in a federal detention facility for protesting.
Through her civil rights activist career, Mrs. Jackson has met and worked with Ethel Payne, the second black journalist to cover the White House, Bella Abzug, C. Dolores Tucker, Dorothy Height, Betty Shabazz, Mahalia Jackson, Nina Simone, Eartha Kitt, Faye Wattleton, Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz, Albertina Walker Dr. Camille Cosby and Dr. William Cosby. She assisted in speech writing and advocacy for the women’s movement.
Mrs. Jackson worked with many civil rights organizations including fundraising for SCLC under the leadership of Dr. King. Her initial assistance of organizing political campaigns first began with Richard Hatcher and John Conyers and many others. She helped to create the logistics for the 1972 National Black Political Convention and headed the fundraising committees for Richard Hatcher’s reelection Her interested later transcended to organizing for Down through the years, her political organizing included campaigning for Hillary Clinton.
Mrs. Jackson founded the Jackson Legacy Foundation where she empowers women, students and the needs of African Americans.
Mrs. Jacqueline Jackson and Reverend Jackson bore five children, three of whom attended North Carolina A&T, Jesse, Jonathan and Jacqueline II. The parenting partnership of these two Aggies is perhaps their proudest achievement with Santita Jackson, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., Congressman Jonathan Jackson, Yusef Jackson, Esq. and Dr. Jacqueline Jackson each distinctive in their own rights and dedicated to the ideals of their parents.
When her husband ran for the presidency in 1983 and 1988, in what she described as a “reforming campaign,” Mrs. Jackson ran as First Lady. It was during this run, that the “revolutionary” idea that a woman be nominated as Vice-President culminated in the inclusion of Geraldine Ferraro.
Mrs. Jackson headed the international desk for both Operation PUSH and the Rainbow PUSH and corroborated with other civil rights organizations in their participation in African and Middle East missions. She was a personal friend of Winnie Mandela, then the wife of imprisoned Nelson Mandela.
Mrs. Jackson is one of the few living people whose work has been consistent with the support of people across the world in their right for self-determination whether in the U.S. or the international community.
Everyone who she met on the A&T campus has remained in her life including today. They are still bonded, but that was the spirit of the A&T family filled with self-pride, civility, and a deep commitment to human kindness.
In whatever she does, Mrs. Jackson looks for excellence. No one showed me that better than A&T, which taught me a way to exhibit a principle of racial pride and to love humanity, where everybody is somebody. Dr. Jackson was the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Human Letters from North Carolina A & T State University in May of 2021 for a lifetime of dedicated service.