Irene Dobbs Jackson (néeDobbs) was a professor of French atSpelman College and a civil rights activist who helped desegregate Atlanta's public libraries, where African American patrons were only allowed to read books in the basement.Maynard Jackson was her son.[1] She went by "Renie".
She was from Atlanta's prominent Dobbs family.[2]John Wesley Dobbs was her father.[3] She had five sisters including opera singerMattiwilda Dobbs and activist and civic leaderJosephine Dobbs Clement.
She was valedictorian of her class at Spelman and studied French.[2] She corresponded withMartin Luther King Jr. while studying in France.[2] She earned a doctorate at theUniversity of Toulouse in France.[4]
African Americans were only allowed to use a segregated branch library. Jackson pressed for a library card at the main branch and received one.[5] She taught at Spelman for almost 50 years.[4]
She, like her mother, had six children. The Georgia House of Representatives passed a resolution commemorating her after her death in 1999.[4]
In 2020, the redevelopment of the home she had with her husband was targeted for redevelopment as affordable housing forAtlanta University graduate students and researchers.[6]
She was interviewed for the Civil Rights History Project.[7]