Luther P. Jackson and a Life for Civil Rights

Abstract

Titans of African American history such as Carter G. Woodson, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Rayford Logan, more often than not, have overshadowed Luther Porter Jackson. More is the shame for this because Luther P. Jackson is an excellent example of the black public intellectual of the past: one whose scholarship was utilized for political action for democratic reform. The main reform in this case was increasing the voter registration among Virginia's eligible African American populace. Despite the paternalistic velvet-glove approach to race relations by the white elites in Virginia, the stifling indignities of segregation still blocked the chances of blacks to obtain true freedom, equality, and democracy. Luther P. Jackson's lifelong work sought to break down those barriers. Michael Dennis's short work is an unexpected gem. Rigorously researched, richly con-textualized, and nicely written, Dennis's book has rescued Jackson from undeserved obscurity and placed him solidly in the ranks of those African American intellectuals from the 1920s through the post–World War II years. Dennis does not shrink from showing Jackson's flaws or his tactical mistakes, nor does he overpraise Jackson. This is probably because of the way that Dennis grounds Jackson's life and work in the context of the times. And that context is what is most enriching about the book.