NOTABLE ARKANSANS

She was born in 1923, in Madison, Ill., one of 10 children. At 7, the family moved to Gum Bottom (Phillips County) where her father helped operate a small cotton farm. She attended school in Marvel, but the school for Black children only went through the 10th grade; she later received a GED and attended college for two years. She got married in 1944, and she and her husband, Earlis, ultimately raised 11 children, all graduating from high school — and seven earning college degrees.

The family lived on a small farm near Marvel, and their children attended the segregated elementary school in nearby Turner, a small, unincorporated community. It became obvious the sewage pipes from the school were installed incorrectly, and sewage would back up into the bathrooms, especially when it rained. After ignored attempts to get the Marvel school board to fix the problem, she and Earlis received support from the local Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and led a three-week boycott of the school, resulting in the problem being corrected — and thus beginning her involvement with community activism.

More than a decade after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education, schools in the Arkansas Delta were refusing to integrate, so she and her husband, in 1966, organized a six-week boycott of the Marvel schools, along with a class-action lawsuit, which led to a decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth District, for full integration of faculty and students beginning in the 1970-71 school year.

Because of their activism, the family was subjected to retaliation from local segregationists, who set fire to their truck, poured sugar into the gas tank of their cotton picker, and fired shots at their car. Nevertheless, they remained undaunted in their community efforts.

She taught in the local Head Start program and helped establish the Boys, Girls and Adults Community Development Center in Marvel. In her words, Black communities must “know what you need to know, stand up for yourself, and get involved.” She died in 2019, at the age of 95.

Who was this inspiring community leader, who, in 2012, was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock?

Who was this inspiring community leader, who, in 2012, was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock?

Gertrude Newsome Jackson