Lillie Mae Carroll Jackson
Encyclopedia
Lillie May Carroll Jackson (May 25, 1889 Baltimore
, Maryland
– July 5, 1975 Baltimore, Maryland), pioneer civil rights
activist, organizer of the Baltimore Branch of the NAACP.
Invariably known as "Dr. Lillie," "Ma Jackson," and the "mother of the civil right's movement," Lillie May Carroll Jackson pioneered the tactic of non-violent resistance to racial segregation
used by Martin Luther King and others during the early civil rights movement
.
, 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.
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, she sang while the silent pictures were shown and lectured wherever he showed his films.
Upon the arrival of their first child, the Jackson family settled in Baltimore. In addition to her oldest child, Virginia, Mrs. Jackson gave birth to two other girls, Juanita Elizabeth
(born January 2, 1913) and Marion, followed by one son, Bowen Keiffer.
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 was literally the mother of the civil rights movement. Her daughter Juanita
, the first African American woman to practice law in Maryland, married Clarence Mitchell, Jr. September 7, 1938. Mitchell's brother Parren Mitchell
was the first African American congressman from Maryland. Juanita and Clarence had four sons: Clarence 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. Kieffer Mitchell's son, Keiffer J. Mitchell, Jr.
was a Baltimore City Council member and Clarence Mitchell IV was a member of the Maryland State Senate.
"Buy Where You Can Work" campaign of 1931. Jackson and her daughter Juanita along with the forums' members encouraged African American residents of Baltimore to shop only at businesses where they could work, boycotting businesses with discriminatory hiring practices. The campaign's success led to similar protests in other cities around the country.
At one 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. That was the beginning of her thirty-five year tenure with the NAACP, in a role as president of the Baltimore branch in 1935, a position she held until retirement in 1970. 1934 saw the beginning of Thurgood Marshall
's employment with the Baltimore NAACP branch. The next year he 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 1946 she founded the Maryland state conference of the NAACP and was elected to the National Board of Directors in 1948.
In 1938 the NAACP won a historic legal challenge to racial barriers in publicly funded institutions. A court judgment overturned city policy assuring all Baltimore city school teachers received equal pay. Jackson's 1942 movement to register black voters began a shift in city politics. That same year she was named to Maryland's first Interracial Commission. She was also fundamental to Baltimore being the first Southern city to integrate its schools after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education
decision. Baltimore's Fair Employment Practices law was passed in 1958. She was such a force in Maryland and Baltimore politics that Governor Theodore McKeldin
was noted to have said of her, "I'd rather have the devil after me than Mrs. Jackson. Give her what she wants."
Ultimately, her efforts built the Baltimore NAACP into the largest branch of the organization in the United States
with a peak membership of 17,600.
and was interred at Mount Auburn Cemetery
in Baltimore.
Jackson's will called for the home she lived in for twenty-two years, 1320 Eutaw Place in Baltimore, to be turned into a museum. 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. Since 1997 Morgan State University
has taken responsibility for the facility and as curators have placed its contents in storage. Today the facility is dormant awaiting sufficient matching funds to put in use a grant which was received from the state of Maryland.
In 1986, Jackson was posthumously inducted into the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame.
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
– July 5, 1975 Baltimore, Maryland), pioneer civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
activist, organizer of the Baltimore Branch of the NAACP.
Invariably known as "Dr. Lillie," "Ma Jackson," and the "mother of the civil right's movement," Lillie May Carroll Jackson pioneered the tactic of non-violent resistance to racial segregation
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
used by Martin Luther King and others during the early civil rights movement
Civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...
.
Early life
Lillie May Carroll Jackson was the seventh child of Methodist Minister Charles Henry Carroll, (who claimed descent from Charles Carroll of CarrolltonCharles Carroll of Carrollton
Charles Carroll of Carrollton was a wealthy Maryland planter and an early advocate of independence from Great Britain. He served as a delegate to the Continental Congress and later as United States Senator for Maryland...
, a signer of the Declaration of Independence
Declaration of independence
A declaration of independence is an assertion of the independence of an aspiring state or states. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another nation or failed nation, or are breakaway territories from within the larger state...
) 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.
Family history
Jackson grew up singing soprano in the choir of the Sharp Street Baptist Church. On an occasion when the church was used to show religious motion pictures, she met Methodist evangelistEvangelism
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....
Keiffer Albert Jackson of Carrollton, Mississippi
Carrollton, Mississippi
Carrollton is a town in Carroll County, Mississippi, United States. It is the county seat of Carroll County. The population was 408 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Greenwood, Mississippi micropolitan area-Geography:...
. 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, she sang while the silent pictures were shown and lectured wherever he showed his films.
Upon the arrival of their first child, the Jackson family settled in Baltimore. In addition to her oldest child, Virginia, Mrs. Jackson gave birth to two other girls, Juanita Elizabeth
Juanita Jackson Mitchell
Juanita Jackson Mitchell was born on January 2, 1913 in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and was the first African American woman to practice law in Maryland. She was married to Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. and the mother of two Maryland State Senators and the grandmother of a third.-Background:The daughter of...
(born January 2, 1913) and Marion, followed by one son, Bowen Keiffer.
During 1918 Jackson experienced a life changing crisis. She underwent emergency surgery for mastoiditis
Mastoiditis
Mastoiditis is an infection of mastoid process, the portion of the temporal bone of the skull that is behind the ear which contains open, air-containing spaces. It is usually caused by untreated acute otitis media and used to be a leading cause of child mortality. With the development of...
. 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 was literally the mother of the civil rights movement. Her daughter Juanita
Juanita Jackson Mitchell
Juanita Jackson Mitchell was born on January 2, 1913 in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and was the first African American woman to practice law in Maryland. She was married to Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. and the mother of two Maryland State Senators and the grandmother of a third.-Background:The daughter of...
, the first African American woman to practice law in Maryland, married Clarence Mitchell, Jr. September 7, 1938. Mitchell's brother Parren Mitchell
Parren Mitchell
Parren James Mitchell , a Democrat, was a U.S. Congressman who represented the 7th congressional district of Maryland from January 3, 1971 to January 3, 1987. He was the first African-American elected to Congress from Maryland....
was the first African American congressman from Maryland. Juanita and Clarence had four sons: Clarence Mitchell III (a former state senator
Maryland State Senate
The Maryland Senate, sometimes referred to as the Maryland State Senate, is the upper house of the General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland...
), Michael Bowen Mitchell, Sr.(former state senator and Baltimore City Council
Baltimore City Council
The Baltimore City Council is the legislative branch that governs the City of Baltimore and its nearly 700,000 citizens. Baltimore has fourteen single-member City Council districts and representatives are elected for a four-year term. To qualify for a position on the Council, a person must be...
member), Keiffer Jackson Mitchell, M.D.
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
, and George Davis Mitchell. Kieffer Mitchell's son, Keiffer J. Mitchell, Jr.
Keiffer J. Mitchell, Jr.
Keiffer Jackson Mitchell, Jr. is an American politician from Baltimore, Maryland who serves in the Maryland House of Delegates. He was a member of the Baltimore City Council and a candidate in the 2007 mayoral election.-Background:...
was a Baltimore City Council member and Clarence Mitchell IV was a member of the Maryland State Senate.
Civil rights activism
As a successful owner of rental property, Jackson was free to engage in activities which led to community improvement. She sponsored the City-Wide Young Peoples forum with her daughter Juanita in the leadership in the early 1930s. The forum conducted a campaign to end racial segregation beginning with the grassrootsGrassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
"Buy Where You Can Work" campaign of 1931. Jackson and her daughter Juanita along with the forums' members encouraged African American residents of Baltimore to shop only at businesses where they could work, boycotting businesses with discriminatory hiring practices. The campaign's success led to similar protests in other cities around the country.
At one forum gathering, Charles Hamilton Houston
Charles Hamilton Houston
Charles Hamilton Houston was an African American lawyer, Dean of Howard University Law School and NAACP Litigation Director who played a significant role in dismantling the Jim Crow laws and trained future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.Houston was born in Washington, D.C. His father...
, informed the audience "we could sue Jim Crow out of Maryland." Subsequently, Carl Murphy
Carl Murphy
Carl Murphy was an African-American Journalist, publisher, civil rights leader, and educator.-Biography:...
of the Afro-American newspaper suggested that Lillie join forces with the NAACP. That was the beginning of her thirty-five year tenure with the NAACP, in a role as president of the Baltimore branch in 1935, a position she held until retirement in 1970. 1934 saw the beginning of Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, serving from October 1967 until October 1991...
's employment with the Baltimore NAACP branch. The next year he won a landmark case financed by the Baltimore NAACP, Murray v. Pearson
Murray v. Pearson
Pearson v. Murray was a Maryland Court of Appeals decision which found "the state has undertaken the function of education in the law, but has omitted students of one race from the only adequate provision made for it, and omitted them solely because of their color." On January 15, 1936, the court...
, removing the color barrier from admissions to the University of Maryland School of Law
University of Maryland School of Law
The University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law is the second-oldest law school in the United States by date of establishment and third-oldest by date of first classes. The school is located on the campus of the University of Maryland, Baltimore in Downtown Baltimore's West Side...
. In 1946 she founded the Maryland state conference of the NAACP and was elected to the National Board of Directors in 1948.
In 1938 the NAACP won a historic legal challenge to racial barriers in publicly funded institutions. A court judgment overturned city policy assuring all Baltimore city school teachers received equal pay. Jackson's 1942 movement to register black voters began a shift in city politics. That same year she was named to Maryland's first Interracial Commission. She was also fundamental to Baltimore being the first Southern city to integrate its schools after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 , was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which...
decision. Baltimore's Fair Employment Practices law was passed in 1958. She was such a force in Maryland and Baltimore politics that Governor Theodore McKeldin
Theodore McKeldin
Theodore Roosevelt McKeldin , a member of the United States Republican Party, was the 53rd Governor of Maryland in the United States from 1951 to 1959....
was noted to have said of her, "I'd rather have the devil after me than Mrs. Jackson. Give her what she wants."
Ultimately, her efforts built the Baltimore NAACP into the largest branch of the organization in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with a peak membership of 17,600.
Death and legacy
Jackson died from a myocardial infarctionMyocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
and was interred at Mount Auburn Cemetery
Mount Auburn Cemetery (Baltimore, Maryland)
Mount Auburn Cemetery is a historic African American cemetery and national historic district in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Overlooking the Middle Branch of the Patapsco River to the east, Baltimore's Downtown to the north and railroad tracks to the south, Mt. Auburn Cemetery is surrounded...
in Baltimore.
Jackson's will called for the home she lived in for twenty-two years, 1320 Eutaw Place in Baltimore, to be turned into a museum. 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
Cultural heritage
Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations...
including documents, framed memorabilia and household furnishings. Prominent amongst these was a life-sized photo of Jackson with Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was an African-American civil rights activist, whom the U.S. Congress called "the first lady of civil rights", and "the mother of the freedom movement"....
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. Since 1997 Morgan State University
Morgan State University
Morgan State University, formerly Centenary Biblical Institute , Morgan College and Morgan State College , is a historically black college in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Morgan is Maryland's designated public urban university and the largest HBCU in the state of Maryland...
has taken responsibility for the facility and as curators have placed its contents in storage. Today the facility is dormant awaiting sufficient matching funds to put in use a grant which was received from the state of Maryland.
In 1986, Jackson was posthumously inducted into the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame.
External links
- Baltimore City Paper Online "Charmed Life: Mother Figure" by Tom Chalkley
- Dr Lillie May Carroll Jackson (1889 - 1975) - Find A Grave Memorial
- Mitchell Family of Civil Rights Activists Gives Papers to Library (March 24, 1997) - Library of Congress Information Bulletin:
- Political pioneers: Mitchell family's influence resonates in Baltimore and beyond
- Lillie Carroll Jackson (1889-1975)
- Baltimore Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
- Baltimore Sun bio