Esther Cooper Jackson

About

Remembered best as a founder of the African- American journal Freedomways, this civil rights activist and author penned such articles as "This is My Husband: Fighter for His People, Political Refugee" and "The Negro Woman Domestic Worker in Relation to Trade Unionism."

Before Fame

After graduating from Oberlin College, she earned a sociology master's degree from Fisk University.

Trivia

Her influential journal influenced the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s.

Family Life

She grew up in Arlington, Virginia, as the daughter of an activist mother who served as the northern Virginia branch president of the NAACP. She met her husband, fellow activist James E. Jackson, while working for the Southern Negro Youth Congress in Birmingham, Alabama.

Associated With

Her Freedomways journal published pieces by Alice Walker, Lorraine Hansberry, and other prominent African-American writers.