Contributions and Distinctions
Jackson was the founding member of the Rho Chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority at UC Berkeley. Jackson also became the first African-American certified by the state to teach in a California public high school and later became the first Black teacher to teach in the Oakland Unified School District. In 2004, the campus renamed the dorms on the corner of College and Durant Avenues the Ida Louise Jackson Graduate House in her honor, marking the first structure on Berkeley campus named after an African-American woman.
Biographical Sketch
Ida Louise Jackson (1902-1996) enrolled at UC Berkeley where she was one of only eight Black female students. In 1921, she founded the Rho Chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, which is the first Greek-letter society established for African-American women in the country. The image shows Jackson with the other members of the founding chapter: (left to right) Virginia Stephens (also known as Annie Virginia Stephens Coker who is featured as #23 in the mural), Oreatheal Richardson, Myrtle Price (in back), Ida Louise Jackson (who was the sorority president), Talma Brooks, and Ruby Jefferson. Jackson received her B.A. in Education in 1922, and the following year in 1923, she earned her M.A. in Education. Teaching at East Side High School in El Centro, Jackson became the first certified Black teacher in a California public high school. In 1925, she returned to Oakland, becoming the first African American teacher in the Oakland Unified School District and ultimately taught in the city for 28 years. With her sorority, Jackson organized The Mississippi Health Project, a nearly decade-long project that involved vaccinating, caring for, and educating thousands in her birth state. Jackson completed doctorate coursework at Columbia University and became Dean of Women at Tuskegee Institute (now University), contributing to her lasting legacy as a pioneer in education and philanthropy. In recognition of her extraordinary leadership in education and health care, she was awarded the Berkeley Citation in 1971.