HistoryAtState
Spotlight on Dr. George Henry Jackson

Happy Birthday George H. Jackson!

The former U.S. Consul was born February 28, 1863, in Natick, Massachusetts. A graduate of Natick High School and Madison University (today known as Colgate University), Jackson received his MD and STB degrees from Yale University in 1892. He served as a medical missionary in the Congo Free State from 1893 until 1895 when ill health forced his return to New Haven, Connecticut. After two years as an assistant instructor in clinical medicine at Yale Medical School, Jackson entered the Consular Service in 1897.

The doctor spent the following 17 years in western France as U.S. Consul at Cognac and La Rochelle. Jackson was one of the few African American consuls in Europe at the time, though efforts to expand consular opportunities were hallmarks of the McKinley, Roosevelt, and Taft administrations. He developed a reputation as a master brandy taster, and received accolades and excellent ratings for his consular work through 1909. Department inspectors in 1907, 1910, and 1912 noted that Jackson was highly regarded within his district. “He is attentive to his duties and his habits are good,” the 1907 report noted. Jackson was “genteel and courteous in all respects,” stated an inspector in 1910. “He is popular with Americans and others.” A Department of State inspector noted in 1912 that Jackson “is himself very light in color.” This was an era when discrimination based on skin color was common throughout the United States. For African Americans, lighter skin color often translated into greater opportunities and acceptance within the majority white U.S. culture. French attitudes towards African Americans at the time were more welcoming, thus why several served at consular posts in France.

The consul, however, fit easily into his French surroundings. He was fluent in the language and served as president of Stade Rochelais, an omnisports club in La Rochelle. From 1902 until 1911, Jackson developed the club’s rugby section and adopted yellow and black as the team’s colors. The consul lived in La Rochelle with his wife Grace Lillie (a Caucasian woman) and five children. After his reassignment in 1908, Jackson commuted each day to Cognac and spent 60-90 minutes each day on a train.

Despite accolades, Jackson’s consular career was prematurely truncated in January 1914 after a scandal threatened to surface and drag him—and the Department—through the mud. According to The New York Age, Jackson’s retirement was anything but voluntary. “The post [at Cognac] has always been regarded as the best position held by a colored man in the Consular Service,” the paper noted.

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The Jacksons returned to the United States, but were not forgotten. In August 2014, Stade Rochelais dedicated a new section of stadium seats to Jackson in recognition of his service to the club a century ago.

Please visit Sud Ouest’s August 26, 2014, article on Stade Rochelais’ dedication in honor of Jackson in order to view an image of the former consul. Jackson is standing on the viewer’s far left.

Sources

George Henry Jackson, Official Personnel Folders-Department of State; Record Group 146: Records of the U.S. Civil Service Commission; National Archives, St. Louis, MO; “Historique du drapeau du Stade Rochelais,” Les Vignerons, April 5, 2011; “U.S. Consul is Dismissed,” The New York Age, December 11, 1913, 1.

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