Jordan C. Jackson Jr.
1848-1918
Undertaker and Political Activist
Jordan Carlisle Jackson Jr. was the second son of Jordan Carlisle Jackson and James Ann Buckner. He was born a slave. Denied a formal education, he taught himself to read and write. During his childhood, he and his family labored on a farm located on Newtown Pike. On February 23, 1871, he married Miss E. Belle Mitchell, and they adopted two children. In 1892 he became a partner in the funeral and livery business of Porter and Jackson, which was located on Limestone Street.
He served the community by being active on several boards including the Colored Fair board and the Colored Orphan Home Board. He was also the founding member and superintendent of the Greenwood Cemetery. He served as a trustee of Wilberforce University in Ohio and Berea College in Kentucky. He was also one of hte committee that presented a bill to the Kentucky General Assembly which resulted in the creation of Kentucky State University. He was the publisher of the American Citizen and the Kentucky Republican, and well as a contributing editor to the Lexington Standard. Jordan’s name appears often as a initiator, founder and leader of many movements and organizations which offer greater opportunity to African- Americans in the areas of education, political, and economic empowerment.
