George W.Jackson was born in 1854 in #Alabama.
Jackson moved to Corsicana,Tx in the 1800s to teach at one of the first schools for #AfricanAmerican children in North Texas.
The local history of schools for black students stretches back to the 1870s, and G.W. Jackson was the first principal of what was first called the Negro School, then the #FrederickDouglassSchool . The name of the school was changed in 1925 to honor Jackson, who was by then a fixture for progressive education in the county.
A disciple of #BookerTWashington, Jackson believed the students needed a solid #education along with a trade, and his school taught both. It was so much ahead of its time that newspaper accounts of the early 1900s said that students from #Dallas rode the #railcars to #Corsicana to school because there weren’t comparable schools for them in that city.
#GWJackson #HighSchool was named in his honor and educated students for about 50 years until it was closed in the 1970s in order to comply with federal #desegregation orders. Bro. Jackson served as #Grandmaster of the #GrandUnitedOrderofOddFellows six years. He was the author of a number of books, and a graduate of #FiskUniversity, #Nashville, Tenn. He passed on in 1940. Surviving him in his demise were his wife and a son, B. A. Jackson. #Harvard graduate and now connected with the New York City Post Office.
In 2007, the city council voted to rename East Fifth Avenue to G. W. Jackson Avenue in his honor.
Efforts have also been working diligently to preserve Brother Jackson’s home as a #historic landmark. #oddfellows #guoof #guoofof #oddfellow #flt #threelinks #3links #oddfellow #fraternal

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