Odette Jackson recalls death of Martin Luther King Jr. and of civil rights challenges in Galesburg

Samuel Cohen
·3 min read
Odette Jackson
Odette Jackson

GALESBURG — On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. Odette Jackson remembers well how his death and its reverberations changed the face of the nation and Galesburg.

Married in the same year to her husband, William Jackson, Odette was preparing to move to Austin, Texas. A Rock Island native, she was unsure at the time about how the nation and Illinois would react to the tragedy. Odette asked her supervisor at Illinois Bell to call Southwestern Bell Telephone Company and ask how the area was reacting to the news and how life, in general, was different in Texas from Illinois. Though the news she received about Austin was uplifting, she could remember how some of the struggles she faced weren’t always visible.

When she was a child, her parents packed lunches for road trips to Springfield and Quincy, though she didn’t know at the time, they would pack lunches because it was unsafe to stop for food along the trip. Odette also remembers the segregation at Lake Storey when her family would drive to Galesburg from Rock Island and how the north side of Lake Storey was reserved for the white community, though Odette attests to the fact that the south side of the lake had better music, attractions, food, and resources.

Galesburg District 205 Family Engagement Specialist DeVone Eurales emphasizes a point as gives the keynote speech during the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Virtual Holiday Celebration on Monday, Jan. 17, 2022. In addition to Eurales' speech, participamts joined in song, and a pair of District 205 middle school students shared their winning essays on "Paul Robeson - a Great Political Figure".

Odette has lived across the country with her husband, who was in this military, witnessing the different faces of society and how they have changed since MLK and the civil rights movement. She lived in Arkansas and as far north as Alaska. Her husband’s service also brought her family to England for 12 years. Not long after King’s death, Odette’s father-in-law, W. C Jackson, became the first African-American elected Alderman in Galesburg. Though progress was occurring, it was still slow. Odette described the time after King’s death as a time of “doors opening, but opening slowly and gradually,” though progress was being made, it was not occurring at a quick pace. One example is that after the election of her father-in-law and Mr. Lomac Payton, the Galesburg City Council would not have two other African-Americans elected to the position for decades.

Odette said some doors have been opened, but because of the slow pace, some of those doors are still closed. She believes there remains skepticism among African-American youth about whether they can actually “walk” through the new doors of opportunity. Odette prides herself on teaching her sons to push through these doors and seize opportunities they couldn’t have decades prior. One of her sons has become a radiological CT/MRI technician at Kaiser Permanente, while her other son is a chief architect data product development engineer with VISA.

Odette sees areas where Galesburg, and the African-American population of Galesburg, still struggle. Despite the first African-American alderman being elected in the '70s, it wasn’t until 2021 that Aldermen Dwight White and Kevin Wallace became the third and fourth African-American aldermen. Similarly, new crises have arisen that impact Galesburg and the African-American community. There is a decreasing number of activities for young people and a lack of mental health support as the highest hurdles for Galesburg.

She and her husband retired in Galesburg in 1996. Odette identifies Hawthorne Pool as one example of a resource she did not have the opportunity to use when she was younger. Odette has utilized classes at the pool for the last 7-8 years as a treatment for her osteopenia and associated conditions. She credits her access to the facility as what has kept her able-bodied and mobile. She also emphasizes organizations in the community that help to serve individuals who are struggling such as KCCCD, the Knox Prairie Community Kitchen, and Habitat for Humanity. Odette recognizes how much Galesburg has changed since King’s assassination, and how much it still needs to change. It is only by reflecting on this progress and listening to those who have lived through these changes can Galesburg continue to improve and move forward.

Odette Jackson and Pam Davidson contributed to this article.

This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: Galesburg native recalls death of Martin Luther King Jr. and civil rights challenges