Irene Dobbs Jackson

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

"100 Years of Library Service". afpls.org.
"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.
"HR 664 - Jackson, Irene Dobbs; condolences - Fulltext". www.legis.ga.gov.
http://sweetauburn.us/rendobbs.htm#:~:text=Irene%20Dobbs%20Jackson%20was%20born,her%201929%20Spelman%20College%20class.
"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.

External links

Findagrave entry

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[1] "100 Years of Library Service". afpls.org.

[mlk-2] "From Irene Dobbs Jackson". The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute. December 4, 2015.

[3] "John Wesley Dobbs Family papers, 1873-2001 | Amistad Research Center". amistadresearchcenter.tulane.edu.

[rep-4] "HR 664 - Jackson, Irene Dobbs; condolences - Fulltext". www.legis.ga.gov.

[sweet-5] ttp://sweetauburn.us/rendobbs.htm#:~:text=Irene%20Dobbs%20Jackson%20was%20born,her%201929%20Spelman%20College%20class.

[6] "Former Home Of Atlanta's First Black Mayor Maynard Jackson To Be Turned Into Affordable Housing". February 2, 2020.

[7] "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.