Identity area
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Description area
Dates of existence
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.