Esther Victoria Cooper Jackson (August 21, 1917 – August 23, 2022) was an American

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

activist,

social worker Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...

, and communist activist. She worked with

Shirley Graham Du Bois Shirley Graham Du Bois (born Lola Shirley Graham Jr.; November 11, 1896 – March 27, 1977) was an American-Ghanaian writer, playwright, composer, and activist for African-American causes, among others. She won the Messner and the Anisfield-Wolf ...

W. E. B. Du Bois William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in a relativel ...

, Edward Strong, and Louis E. Burnham, and was one of the founding editors of the magazine ''

Freedomways ''Freedomways'' was the leading African-American theoretical, political and cultural journal of the 1960s–1980s. It began publishing in 1961 and ceased in 1985. The journal's founders were Louis Burnham, Edward Strong, W. E. B. Du Bois, and i ...

'', a theoretical, political and literary journal published from 1961 to 1985. She also served as organizational and executive secretary at the Southern Negro Youth Congress.

Early life and career

Jackson was born on August 21, 1917, in Arlington, Virginia, to George Posea Cooper and Esther Georgia Irving Cooper, who served as president of the Arlington branch of the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

. She attended segregated schools as a child. She earned a bachelor's degree at

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...

in 1938 and a master's degree in sociology from

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 ...

in 1940. Her 1940 thesis was "The Negro Woman Domestic Worker in Relation to Trade Unionism". Upon graduation, she received a Rosenwald Fellowship to support a study on the attitudes of black youth toward World War II. She had been planning to conduct the study as part of her studies for a Ph.D. in sociology at the University of Chicago. Of her upbringing and family, Jackson recounted: In 1945 she was a delegate to the ''World Youth Congress'' in London and served as the chairman of the American Subcommittee on Problems of Dependent Peoples. After graduate school, Jackson became a member of the staff of the Voting Project in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...

, for the Southern Negro Youth Congress (SNYC). While working with SNYC she met her future husband James E. Jackson, a Marxist theoretician who would work as a labor organizer and an official in the

Communist Party USA The Communist Party USA (CPUSA), officially the Communist Party of the United States of America, also referred to as the American Communist Party mainly during the 20th century, is a communist party in the United States. It was established ...

. In a 2004 interview, she explained that her husband and the SNYC had in 1937 helped tobacco workers in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

successfully agitate for an eight-hour day and pay increases. The tobacco workers held the first strike in Virginia since 1905, and their gains, according to C. Alvin Hughes, "helped SNYC earn a following among the black working class in the South".Rocksborough-Smith, Ian, "Bearing the Seeds of Struggle", MA thesis, Simon Fraser University, 2005.
/ref> Originally intending only to stay for one summer, Jackson remained in Alabama for seven years, engaged in the struggle to bring down

Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced racial segregation, " Jim Crow" being a pejorative term for an African American. The last of the ...

segregation. For seven years as a prominent leader of SNYC, Esther Cooper Jackson worked with her husband, Louis and Dorothy Burnham, Ed Strong, Sallye and Frank Davis—parents of the Davis sisters, Angela and Fania—and numerous others, conducting many campaigns promoting the rights of blacks and poor whites. SNYC's agitation for the integration of the public transportation systems important in preparation for the struggles later on in the 1950s and 1960s.

''Freedomways''

In New York of 1961, Jackson became managing editor of ''Freedomways'', created by Esther Jackson, along with Louis Burnham, Jack O'Dell from the

Southern Christian Leadership Conference The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is an African Americans, African-American civil rights organization based in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. SCLC is closely associated with its first president, Martin Luther King Jr., ...

, and writer

Lorraine Hansberry Lorraine Vivian Hansberry (May 19, 1930 – January 12, 1965) was an American playwright and writer. She was the first African-American female author to have a play performed on Broadway theatre, Broadway. Her best-known work, the play ''A Raisin ...

. Freedomways was the central theoretical journal of the 20th century black arts and intellectual movement in the United States. From its launch in 1961, it attracted historians, sociologists, economists, artists, workers, and students to write on black history, heritage, and culture. Jackson would call it "a tool for the liberation of our people". ''Freedomways'' was a globally influential political, arts and intellectual journal that published international poets such as

Pablo Neruda Pablo Neruda ( ; ; born Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto; 12 July 190423 September 1973) was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Neruda became known as a poet when he was 13 years old an ...

and

Derek Walcott Sir Derek Alton Walcott OM (23 January 1930 – 17 March 2017) was a Saint Lucian poet and playwright. He received the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature. His works include the Homeric epic poem '' Omeros'' (1990), which many critics view "as ...

, articles by African leaders including

Kwame Nkrumah Francis Kwame Nkrumah (, 21 September 1909 – 27 April 1972) was a Ghanaian politician, political theorist, and revolutionary. He served as Prime Minister of the Gold Coast (British colony), Gold Coast from 1952 until 1957, when it gained ...

, Julius K. Nyerere,

Agostinho Neto António Agostinho Neto (17 September 1922 – 10 September 1979) was an Angolan Communism, communist politician and poet. He served as the first president of Angola from 1975 to 1979, having led the MPLA, Popular Movement for the Liberation of ...

, and

Jomo Kenyatta Jomo Kenyatta (22 August 1978) was a Kenyan anti-colonial activist and politician who governed Kenya as its Prime Minister from 1963 to 1964 and then as its first President from 1964 to his death in 1978. He played a significant role in the ...

and Caribbean leftist C. L. R. James, as well as African-American authors such as

James Baldwin James Arthur Baldwin (né Jones; August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American writer and civil rights activist who garnered acclaim for his essays, novels, plays, and poems. His 1953 novel '' Go Tell It on the Mountain'' has been ranked ...

Alice Walker Alice Malsenior Tallulah-Kate Walker (born February 9, 1944) is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, and social activist. In 1982, she became the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, which she was awa ...

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, actor, professional American football, football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for h ...

Nikki Giovanni Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni Jr. (June 7, 1943 – December 9, 2024) was an American poet, writer, commentator, activist and educator. One of the world's best-known African-American poets, her work includes poetry anthologies, poetry recor ...

, and Lorraine Hansberry. The most prominent African-American artists like

Jacob Lawrence Jacob Armstead Lawrence (September 7, 1917 – June 9, 2000) was an American painter known for his portrayal of African-American historical subjects and contemporary life. Lawrence referred to his style as "dynamic cubism", an art form populariz ...

Romare Bearden Romare Bearden (, ) (September 2, 1911 – March 12, 1988) was an American artist, author, and songwriter. He worked with many types of media including cartoons, oils, and collages. Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, Bearden grew up in New York C ...

, and

Elizabeth Catlett Elizabeth Catlett, born as Alice Elizabeth Catlett, also known as Elizabeth Catlett Mora (April 15, 1915 – April 2, 2012) was an American and Mexican sculptor and graphic artist best known for her depictions of the Black-American experience i ...

contributed cover art ''gratis'' to support the magazine, which was read worldwide. Uniting the Southern and Northern US civil rights struggles of the 1960s with an international viewpoint taking in

Pan-Africanism Pan-Africanism is a nationalist movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all Indigenous peoples of Africa, indigenous peoples and diasporas of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atla ...

and other cultural and political currents, the magazine is often viewed as a precursor of the

Black Arts Movement The Black Arts Movement (BAM) was an African Americans, African-American-led art movement that was active during the 1960s and 1970s. Through activism and art, BAM created new cultural institutions and conveyed a message of black pride. The mov ...

Personal life

Jackson and her husband, James E. Jackson, married in 1941, and had two children. They moved to Brooklyn in 1951, and remained married until his death in 2007. In 2015, Jackson moved to a retirement facility in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, where she died on August 23, 2022, two days after her 105th birthday.

Works

''The Negro Woman Domestic Worker in Relation to Trade Unionism''
M.A. thesis, Fisk University, 1940, excerpts reprinted in ''Viewpoint Magazine'' 5 (October 2015). . * * Esther Cooper Jackson and Constance Pohl (2000)
''Freedomways Reader: Prophets in Their Own Country: Interventions—Theory and Contemporary Politics''
Boulder: Westview Press.

References

External links

Esther Cooper Jackson at 96: "Still in the Struggle"
*
James E. Jackson and Esther Cooper Jackson Papers
at Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at New York University
Southern Negro Youth Congress Forum 3
—Audio recording: Cooper Jackson lectures on conditions in the South; she is introduced around 7:30 into the tape.
Audio recording: interview
*
Subversives: Stories from the Red Scare
Lesson by Ursula Wolfe-Rocca (Esther Cooper Jackson is featured in this lesson).
James E. Jackson and Esther Cooper Jackson Papers
Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at New York University Special Collections {{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Esther Cooper 1917 births 2022 deaths African-American activists African-American communists 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American women writers African-American centenarians African-American women writers Alabama socialists American women centenarians American civil rights activists Fisk University alumni Members of the Communist Party USA New York (state) socialists Oberlin College alumni People from Arlington County, Virginia Virginia socialists American women civil rights activists Writers from Alabama Writers from Brooklyn Writers from Virginia