Elmer C. Jackson (1912-1999)
A recipient of the 1986 Kansas Governor’s Medal of Merit for outstanding contributions to his city, state and nation, Elmer C. Jackson was a prominent activist and volunteer for legal and civic organizations in Kansas City, Kansas. He served as president of the National Bar Association and initiated the establishment of the National Bar Foundation. In his hometown area, he served in leadership capacities for the Kansas City, Kansas branch of the NAACP; the Kansas City, Kansas Chamber of Commerce; the Kansas City, Kansas Bar Association; the Zoning Appeal Board of Kansas City, Kansas; the Public Housing Authority of Kansas City, Kansas and the Wyandotte County Mental Health Association. In 1935, he began his law career after earning a B.A. degree from Kansas University and graduating from the KU Law School. By 1937, Mr. Jackson had won a case before the Kansas Supreme Court which determined that racial discrimination practices by labor unions were unlawful. During these early years, he served as special assistant to the attorney general of Kansas and as deputy city attorney for Kansas City, Kansas.
A devoted alumnus of the University of Kansas, Mr. Jackson, served as a member (1970-1978) and chair (1976-1978) of the Kansas Board of Regents, a member of the national board of the KU Alumni Association (1985-1990), and as a trustee of the KU Endowment Association. He also established a scholarship for students at the University of Kansas Law School. For his contributions to KU, Mr. Jackson received the Distinguished Alumnus Citation from the University of Kansas Law School (1973), the University of Kansas Distinguished Service Award (1979) and the Fred Ellsworth Medallion from the Kansas University Alumni Association (1991). Mr. Jackson was also a 33rd Degree Mason and an active leader of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Alpha Phi Alpha and the Sigma Pi Phi fraternities.
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