CURTIS JACKSON, JR.
If you were to ask Curtis Jackson, Jr. what drove him to write this one-of-kind book on racism, he’d reply: “I drove my parents crazy with ‘but why’ questions about racism, and to this day, I still don’t know the answers.”
Curtis Jackson, Jr. was born in a small town of Waycross, Georgia, on January 28, 1941. His father, Curtis Jackson, Sr., was born in 1919 and grew up in the Jim Crow days. As head of household, he was a hardworking man for the Atlantic Coast Line railroad. Curtis, Jr.’s mother, Eunice, was a homemaker. Born to the couple were four boys.
As a young boy, Curtis, Jr. recalled hearing a well-known white politician make a statement that caught his attention. The politician spoke to his radio audience. “Now, you wouldn’t want your pretty little girl with bows in her hair to sit behind a big Black burly nigger in the classroom, now would you?” This statement was so alarming that it remained in Jackson’s memory up to his adult life.
In his adult years, he saw the discrimination in the workforce, in college, and in his community—with nothing being done about it. After he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in English, with a minor in journalism from Florida A&M University, Jackson later went on to earn his Master of Science degree in public health administration from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He directed programs, assisted in the design of a multimillion-dollar project, and ran operations in several prestigious organizations. But, despite his crafty skills and astuteness, he was still considered a Negro man who knew his place.
Years later, Jackson decided to start on the journey to answer his “but why” questions. Finding sources that gave insight into the segregated South and his own town of Waycross, GA, he pursued his research of white oppression and the Black man’s plight for freedom. Jackson continued his work until his wife, Ethel Jean, became ill. Stopping to care for her, his work went unfinished. Then, 30 years later, Jackson’s desire for the book returned when he recalled many racist events that accented his life, and two major events that impacted his family.
Brenda (Rose) Womble
A young country gal, born on a farm and living with six other siblings would be someone who fought and won against the odds. She was born, Brenda Mae Lindsey, and married at 18 years old to a Vietnam War veteran, Floyd Womble. To them was born two children. Unfortunately, one was a still-born daughter. Their son was born later and became a well-known musician and an educator.
Brenda developed a love for the theater and literary works at a young age and pretended to be a Hollywood star. She graduated from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC with a Masters in Performance Studies and was the first participant to place in the final competition in prose readings in the Great Eastern tournament held in Pennsylvania. She went on to become a national winner in prose readings of Reader’s Theater awarded in Denver, Colorado.
After her first successful publication of her novel Guns of Ava, Brenda staged the play and wrote the screenplay version of this true love story of her best friend, Ken Dula who is a decorated Vietnam War veteran. A few years later, she discovered Curtis’ journals of “If You Were Not Black” and ventured to help him. She compiled illustrations and articles doing extensive research. Together, she and Curtis published the heavily documented coffee table book on systemic racism in America.