Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1879 - 1952 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
3 boxes of textual material (34 cm)
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Albert Jackson was born November 2, 1857, in Delaware, US. The son of an enslaved mother and free father, Jackson was also born into enslavement. Jackson’s father died before he was born, stricken with grief after his two oldest sons were sold by their enslaver. In 1858, when Jackson was less than one year old, his mother, Ann Maria Jackson, escaped enslavement, and travelled with him and his six remaining siblings on the Underground Railroad. They initially landed in St. Catharine's before making their way to Toronto. In Toronto, the family stayed briefly in St. John’s Ward with Thornton and Lucie Blackburn, fellow freedom seekers who had established Toronto’s first taxi business.
On May 12, 1882, Jackson was appointed as a letter carrier and was to work at the Toronto General Post Office. On his first day, however, his White colleagues refused to train him due to anti-Black prejudice. He was subsequently demoted to the position of caretaker. Canadian media discussed Jackson’s demotion widely in the following weeks. On May 29, members of Toronto’s Black community, including members of Jackson’s family, held a public meeting at the Richmond Street Methodist Church to protest the demotion. On May 30, a group of five Black Torontonians led by community spokesperson George Washington Smith met with Prime Minister Sir John A. MacDonald to demand that Jackson be reinstated in his position. MacDonald complied and reinstated Jackson as a letter carrier three days later.
Jackson married Henrietta Jones in 1883, and the couple had four sons: Bruce, Richard, Alfred, and Harold. They purchased several homes in Toronto. Throughout his life, Jackson also participated in several Black community groups, including the British Methodist Episcopal Church at 94 Chestnut St., and the Black fraternal organization, the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows, Peter Ogden Lodge.
Jackson remained a letter carrier until his death in 1918. In 2024, the Government of Canada recognized Jackson as a person of national historic significance.
Archival history
Material was purchased from Catherine Luzena-Hall on behalf of Scott Hall in 2022. Previous to this, Hall purchased the material from Tom Keanes, who had purchased it from a member of the Jackson family ca. 1985.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
This accession consists of material pertaining to Albert Jackson’s activities as a letter carrier in Toronto, property owner, congregant of the British Methodist Episcopal Church, and member of the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows, Peter Ogden Lodge #812. These materials consist primarily of correspondence sent to Jackson, financial records and printed ephemera. The accession also includes materials pertaining to other members of the Jackson family, including collected insurance records demonstrating Henrietta Jackson’s activities as a property owner, and printed material representing Richard Jackson’s activities as a jeweler. The accession also contains a number of photographic portraits—most of which are not identified—and collected printed ephemera in the form of advertisements.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Materials in the collection have been arranged based on their content, and ordered chronologically, where possible. This order differs from the state of the collection as it was received, where no discernable order existed.
The material has been described to the item level.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
No restrictions on access.
The identifier for each item in the collection corresponds to its Box Number: Folder Number: Item Number. When requesting material, please provide the corresponding box number.
Material may be requested in person at the Fisher Library Reference Desk, or in advance using our online stack retrieval request form: https://aeon.library.utoronto.ca
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Uploaded finding aid
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
Shorthand notations are used in the finding aid:
TLS: Typed letter signed (typed letter signed by hand)
TL: Typed letter, not signed
ALS: Autograph letter signed (signed by the author of the letter, handwritten)
AL: Autograph letter not signed.