Inez Jackson was a true San Jose groundbreaker.
When she moved to California from Oklahoma, she was denied a job as a schoolteacher because she was Black. She went on to become San Jose’s first Black postal worker in 1949 and the first Black president of the local YWCA chapter, as well as serving four years as president of the local NAACP chapter starting in 1969. In 1978, she also founded what is now the African American Community Service Agency, which celebrated the unveiling of a mural of Jackson on Saturday.
“When we talk about her résumé, her legacy, it’s pages — it’s a whole book,” African American Community Service Agency Executive Director Malin Balinton said. “I believe this is the first and largest mural of a Black woman in the entire county. It’s something for young people and all communities of colors to come see.”
Jackson died at age 86 in 1993, but her spirit has lived on for more than three decades through the Inez Jackson Bridge Library at the AACSA headquarters on Sixth and Julian Street. Now, her face looks over the entrance to the library, which was created in partnership with the San Jose Public Library and spruced up a few years ago by the Golden State Warriors.
The mural was created by Ian Young with Quiet Giant Design, who also painted the mural on the outside wall of the Barbers, Inc. on East Santa Clara Street. “It’s definitely a blessing to have the opportunity to capture this portrait,” he said during Saturday’s ceremony. “Her being a teacher and activist, I felt the halo circling her being knowledge and equality was fitting.”
It’s not the only tribute to Jackson on the site, either. An augmented reality artwork by Kathy Aoki that was created last year as part of the Womanhood Project also was installed at the entrance to the library.
K-POP STAR POWER: Just in time for the final concert by K-pop supergroup BTS at Stanford on Tuesday night, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors on Monday proclaimed May 16 to May 23 as “BTS Week.”
“Growing up here on the Peninsula, I didn’t see a lot of folks like me in the various sectors of our community,” said Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga, who was introduced to BTS by her daughter. “There were no Asian superheroes, no Asian popstars, no global icons who reflected our cultures. But today, the biggest band in the world is a group from South Korea, and that’s amazing. It just shows how far we’ve come in 30 years.”
The pop supergroup wasn’t in the supervisor chambers to receive the honor, but there were cheers from members of the BTS Army who were in attendance.
TECH TALKS: As far as I’m concerned, Esther Wojcicki had one of the most important jobs in the world — public high school journalism teacher — but she was a lot more than that. Her three daughters — Susan Wojcicki of YouTube and Google; Anne Wojcicki of 23andMe; and Janet Wojcicki of UCSF — went on to great success and that’s one of the reasons she was given the nickname, “The Godmother of Silicon Valley.”
That’s also the title of a new documentary short about Wojcicki that will be screened June 2 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. The 7 p.m. screening will be followed by a Q&A with Wojcicki and one of the filmmakers. It’s free to attend, but you’ve got to register at www.computerhistory.org.
By the way, the Computer History Museum’s May 26 program, “Steve Jobs in Exile,” about the years he spent at NeXT between stints at Apple is sold out. But you can still register for the waitlist or to catch the conversation with journalist Geoffrey Cain and former NeXT employees Dan’l Lewin, Rich Page, Avie Tevanian and Bud Tribble on livestream.
COLOR ME CONFUSED: Hopefully, you’ve heard by now that San Jose soon will have a new sports team to cheer for: a member of the relatively new Professional Women’s Hockey League. While the team doesn’t have a nickname yet, we can just will “Hammerheads” into happening, right? It’s a good link to the team’s SAP Center roommate, the Sharks, and a nice tribute to late San Jose Mayor Susan Hammer — a nickname San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan lobbied for at Tuesday’s announcement. My colleague, Dieter Kurtenbach first floated the name last week.
It’s also a nice bit of civic pride to see the initial logo make use of the colors of the city’s flag. Though the “orange” color the league mentioned in its release is actually supposed to be gold. “Orange is also a nod to the Sharks and the region’s historic orange groves,” the release reads.
The Valley of the Heart’s Delight was known for apricots, prunes, cherries and lots of other fruits — but all those orange groves were in a more southern part of California. What county is that, anyway?
