Blyden Jackson (October 12, 1910 – May 1, 2000) was a Black American academic, essayist, and activist. The grandson of slaves, born in the segregated South, Jackson was the first Black American to become a full professor at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

in 1969, and "the first Black American professor at a traditionally white university in the

Southeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, ...

". At UNC Chapel Hill, Jackson pioneered the

African American Studies Black studies or Africana studies (with nationally specific terms, such as African American studies and Black Canadian studies), is an interdisciplinary academic field that primarily focuses on the study of the history, culture, and politics of ...

program and helped recruit more Black American faculty members. With his wife, he is the namesake of Blyden and Roberta Jackson Hall on campus.

Early life

Blyden Jackson was born on October 12, 1910, in

Paducah, Kentucky Paducah ( ) is a List of cities in Kentucky, home rule-class city in the Upland South, and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky, United States. The most populous city in the Jackson Purchase region, it is located in the Southeastern Unit ...

. His grandparents were

slaves Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

. His father, George Washington Jackson, was a history teacher and his mother, Julia Reid, a librarian. He had a brother, Reid E. Jackson Sr., who later became a professor at

Morgan State University Morgan State University (Morgan State or MSU) is a Public university, public historically black colleges and universities, historically black research university in Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland. It is the largest of Maryland's historically bla ...

. He grew up in segregated

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

. Jackson graduated from

Wilberforce University Wilberforce University (WU) is a private university in Wilberforce, Ohio. It is one of three historically black universities established before the American Civil War. Founded in 1856 by the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC), it is named after ...

in 1930. He attended the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

on a Rosenwald Scholarship, where he earned a master's degree in 1938 and a PhD in 1952.

Career

Jackson taught at Madison Jr. High School in Kentucky from 1934 to 1945. He joined

Fisk University Fisk University is a Private university, private Historically black colleges and universities, historically black Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1866 and its campus i ...

, a historically black college, as an assistant professor of English in 1945, and left as a tenured associate professor in 1954. He was a full professor of English at

Southern University Southern University and A&M College (Southern University, Southern, SUBR or SU) is a Public university, public historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. It i ...

, another historically black college, from 1954 to 1956, and he later became the dean of its Graduate School. Jackson joined the English department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1969, where he was the first African-American faculty member to become a full professor. He was also "the first African American professor at a traditionally white university in the

". He was a professor until 1973, when he became an administrator, serving as special assistant to the Dean of the Graduate School until 1981, and Associate Dean until 1983. He pioneered the

African-American Studies Black studies or Africana studies (with nationally specific terms, such as African American studies and Black Canadian studies), is an interdisciplinary academic field that primarily focuses on the study of the history, culture, and politics of ...

program at UNC Chapel Hill, where he also served on a committee to hire more African Americans as faculty. Jackson was the author of several books about

African-American literature African American literature is the body of literature produced in the United States by writers of African descent. Phillis Wheatley was an enslaved African woman who became the first African American to publish a book of poetry, which was publis ...

, including one co-authored with Louis D. Rubin Jr. He wrote about the

Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African-American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics, and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the ti ...

, including

Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. An early innovator of jazz poetry, Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harl ...

Ralph Ellison Ralph Waldo Ellison (March 1, 1913 – April 16, 1994) was an American writer, literary critic, and scholar best known for his novel '' Invisible Man'', which won the National Book Award in 1953. Ellison wrote '' Shadow and Act'' (1964), a co ...

and Richard Wright.

Personal life and death

Jackson was married to Roberta Jackson, an associate professor of education at UNC Chapel Hill who predeceased him in 1999. The Blyden and Roberta Jackson Graduate Fellowship Fund at UNC Chapel Hill was established in 1989. The Blyden and Roberta Jackson Hall, which houses the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, was named for them in 1992. Jackson died in 2000, at the age of 89.

Selected works

Literary criticism

* * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Blyden 1910 births 2000 deaths 20th-century African-American academics 20th-century African-American writers 20th-century American academics 20th-century American male writers African-American male writers African-American novelists Fisk University faculty Novelists from Tennessee People from Paducah, Kentucky Southern University faculty University of Michigan alumni University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty Wilberforce University alumni