Lillie Mae Carroll Jackson

Lillie May Carroll Jackson (May 25, 1889 – July 5, 1975), was a pioneer civil rights activist and organizer of the Baltimore branch of the NAACP. Known as "Dr. Lillie", "Ma Jackson", and the "mother of the civil rights movement", Lillie May Carroll Jackson pioneered the tactic of non-violent resistance to racial segregation used by Martin Luther King Jr. and others during the early civil rights movement.

Early life and education Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Lillie May Carroll Jackson was the seventh child of Methodist Minister Charles Henry Carroll (who claimed descent from Charles Carroll of Carrollton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence) and Amanda Bowen Carroll who was said to be the granddaughter of a free-born African chief named John Bowen. After completing her public school education and graduating from the Colored High School and Normal School in 1909, Jackson became a second-grade teacher at the old Biddle Street School.

Jackson grew up singing soprano in the choir of the Sharp Street Methodist Church. On an occasion when the church was used to show religious motion pictures, she met Methodist evangelist Keiffer Albert Jackson of Carrollton, Mississippi. A promoter of religious films, Jackson requested that she sing a song entitled "The Holy City". Years later, in 1910, they were married. Once they were married they began to travel together around the country to show films to church congregations. She sang while the silent pictures were shown and lectured wherever he showed his films. This built her public speaking experience and comfort when speaking to large crowds.

During 1918 Jackson experienced a life changing crisis. She underwent emergency surgery for mastoiditis. The procedure was so extensive her doctor told her that he "had removed more decayed bone from her head than he thought possible to survive". As a result, the right side of her face was permanently disfigured. Most photos of her henceforth were taken from the left side to conceal her scars. Jackson said that before this procedure she prayed to live so she could raise her children, offering up a lifetime of service in return.

Civil rights activism As a successful landlord, Jackson was free to engage in activities which led to community improvement.

President of the Baltimore NAACP At one City-Wide Young Peoples Forum gathering, Charles Hamilton Houston, informed the audience "we could sue Jim Crow out of Maryland". Subsequently, Carl Murphy of the Afro-American newspaper suggested that Lillie join forces with the NAACP. She was also asked to revive the local Baltimore NAACP chapter. Jackson was a mentor to civil rights lawyers like Charles Houston and Thurgood Marshall, and raised funds to support their cases. When Marshall worked for the Baltimore NAACP as a new pro bono lawyer, he would have strategy calls with Jackson where he left his phone on his desk as she laid out legal plans, with Marshall only occasionally speaking to let her know he was still there. Many of the branch's later victories were won by Jackson's daughter Juanita Jackson Mitchell, who eventually became the Baltimore NAACP's lead legal counsel. In 1935, Marshall won a landmark case financed by the Baltimore NAACP, Murray v. Pearson, removing the color barrier from admissions to the University of Maryland School of Law. In 1942 she was named to Maryland's first Interracial Commission.

In the 1960s, Jackson's organizing power helped secure the passage of federal civil rights laws multiple times, in 1964, 1965, and 1966. Juanita married Clarence Mitchell Jr. on September 7, 1938. He was the NAACP’s chief Washington lobbyist from 1950 to 1978 and became known as the "101st U.S. Senator." Mitchell's brother Parren Mitchell was the first African-American congressman from Maryland. Juanita and Clarence had four sons: Clarence M. Mitchell, III (a former state senator), Michael Bowen Mitchell Sr. (former state senator and Baltimore City Council member), Keiffer Jackson Mitchell, M.D., and George Davis Mitchell. As the only museum named after a woman and the only civil rights museum in the state of Maryland, it serves as a repository of civil rights artifacts including documents, framed memorabilia and household furnishings. Prominent amongst these was a life-sized photo of Jackson with Rosa Parks just inside the building's entrance.

Upon its 1976 opening the museum enjoyed a modest flow of visitors. By mid 1990 its maintenance had become untenable to the extent that the structure was no longer viable as a museum. In 1997 Morgan State University took responsibility for the facility and as curators placed its contents in storage. The facility then became dormant, awaiting sufficient matching funds to put in use a grant which was received from the state of Maryland. The museum reopened on June 11, 2016.

Honors In 1958, Morgan State College gave her an honorary doctorate of laws for her civil rights activism.

In 1986, Jackson was posthumously inducted into the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame.

The Baltimore Sun named Jackson Marylander of the Century in 1999.

Baltimore mayor Martin O'Malley declared May 25th as Lillie Carroll Jackson Day in the city.