Irene née Dobbs Jackson was a professor of French at Spelman College and a civil rights activist who helped desegregate Atlanta's public libraries, where African American patrons were only allowed to read books in the basement. Maynard Jackson was her son.[1] She went by "Renie".
She was from Atlanta's prominent Dobbs family.[2] John Wesley Dobbs was her father.[3] She had five sisters including opera singer Mattiwilda Dobbs and activist and civic leader Josephine Dobbs Clement.
She was valedictorian of her class at Spelman and studied French.[2] She corresponded with Martin Luther King Jr. while studying in France.[2] She earned a doctorate at the University of Toulouse in France.[4]
African Americans were only allowed to use a segregated branch library. Jackson pressed for a library card at the main branch and received one.[5] She taught at Spelman for almost 50 years.[4]
She, like her mother, had six children. The Georgia House of Representatives passed a resolution commemorating her after her death in 1999.[4]
In 2020, the redevelopment of the home she had with her husband was targeted for redevelopment as affordable housing for Atlanta University graduate students and researchers.[6]
She was interviewed for the Civil Rights History Project.[7]
References[edit]
- ^ "100 Years of Library Service". afpls.org.
- ^ a b c "From Irene Dobbs Jackson". The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute. December 4, 2015.
- ^ "John Wesley Dobbs Family papers, 1873-2001 | Amistad Research Center". amistadresearchcenter.tulane.edu.
- ^ a b c "HR 664 - Jackson, Irene Dobbs; condolences - Fulltext". www.legis.ga.gov.
- ^ "Sweet Auburn Avenue: The Buildings Tell Their Story".
- ^ "Former Home Of Atlanta's First Black Mayor Maynard Jackson To Be Turned Into Affordable Housing". February 2, 2020.
- ^ "Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn research files and interviews - The Civil Rights History Project: Survey of Collections and Repositories (The American Folklife Center, Library of Congress)". www.loc.gov.