Athlete – Basketball
Mr. Julian A. Jackson, Jr., is the son of the late Julian A. Jackson, Sr., and Helen C. Jackson. He is the father of four children, eight grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.
Mr. Jackson is a member of the Class of 1949 from the original Dunbar High School. While at Dunbar, he participated on the football team as a right halfback and played guard on the basketball squad from 1947 to 1949. The football team was state champion in 1947, and the basketball team won the state championship in 1948 in the Kentucky High School Athletic League (KHSAL). In 1949, Mr. Jackson was named to the KHSAL All-State Basketball Squad.
After high school, Mr. Jackson attended Florida A&M on a basketball scholarship, where he lettered in his first year and received honors as the Most Outstanding Freshman. Subsequently, he entered the military and served on the faculty at Fort Ord, California. From there, Mr. Jackson went on to Millikin University in Illinois, where he studied to become an industrial manager and was inducted into the Millikin Industrial Society and the Upsilon Epsilon Tau Fraternity.
Mr. Jackson’s professional career included the following roles:
- Supply management for the United States Signal Depot;
- Minority Groups Representative for the Department of Labor; and
- Regional Manager for Economic Security in Kentucky State Government.
Mr. Jackson also became the first African-American Director of Human Resources for the state of Kentucky, which at the time was the largest cabinet in state government. He retired in 1990 and has been active in several civic organizations since.
Finally, Mr. Jackson authored a history of the school entitled Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, Oasis in a Strange Desert, and in 2018, he spearheaded the placement of a state historical marker at the site of the old high school.
