Jordan Carlisle Jackson Jr.

Jordan Carlisle Jackson Jr. (February 28, 1848 – October 7, 1918), also known as J. C. Jackson, was an American lawyer, One of his brother was John Henry Jackson (1850–1919), a professor at Berea College and an academic administrator.

He was enslaved on a plantation owned by Lydia Graves and her family, located on Newtown Pike. In 1864 at the age of 16 years old, Jackson was freed.

Jackson married abolitionist Eliza "Belle" Mitchell Jackson (1848–1942) in 1871.

Career and community work

Newspaper publishing Jackson worked as the publisher and editor of the American Citizen newspaper in Lexington.

In 1892, Jackson fought against the Separate Coach Law of 1891, a Jim Crow law requiring separate coaches on railway trains for White and Black passengers. Jackson was made a temporary chairman of the State Convention in Lexington, Kentucky, where he gave a moving speech on the Separate Coach Law.

Jackson served as the chairman of the committee behind the creation of Douglass Park in Lexington.

Trustee and board work Jackson was active on several boards including the Colored Fair board, and the Colored Orphan Home Board. He was a layman trustee for the Kentucky Conference, African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church of Wilberforce University, Wilberforce, Ohio.

Jackson served for 12 years on the board of trustees for Berea College, as the only Black trustee. He was well liked by Berea College's President Henry Fairchild and Rev. John G. Fee.

Death He died on October 7, 1918, in Lexington, Kentucky. He was interred at Cove Haven Cemetery in Lexington.