author
Walter Clinton Jackson
1879–1959
An educator and historian best remembered for writing a short life of Booker T. Washington, he also played a major role in shaping higher education in North Carolina. His work reflects both a teacher’s clarity and a biographer’s interest in lives that could inspire young readers.
1 Audiobook
A boys' life of Booker T. Washington
by Walter Clinton Jackson
About the author
Born in Hayston, Georgia, on June 28, 1879, Walter Clinton Jackson became an American educator, historian, and author. He studied at Mercer University and later built much of his career in North Carolina, where he taught history and took on major leadership roles in public higher education.
Jackson joined the State Normal and Industrial College, now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, in 1909 as a history professor and department head. He later served as dean and then as chancellor, and he was also briefly connected with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Sources about his life consistently describe him as an influential college administrator as well as a teacher.
As a writer, he is known for A Boys' Life of Booker T. Washington (1922), a biography that introduced younger readers to one of the most important Black educators of the era. He died on August 12, 1959, in Greensboro, North Carolina, leaving behind a legacy in both education and historical writing.