Michelle Gordon Jackson

Michelle Gordon Jackson is an author, columnist, and screenwriter. Her book, Light, Bright and Damn Near White: Black Leaders Created by the One-Drop Rule, is a historical reference book featuring the biographies of unsung Black Leaders who fit within the One-Drop Rule paradigm (one-drop of African blood makes you Black). This rule was legislated in 33 U.S. states and is fundamentally relevant in the manner in which most Americans (Black and White) define race today. The author states, “We currently have as president, Barack Obama, a man born to a White mother and an African father, who will go down in American history as the first Black President of the United States. My book frames this racial distinction that is matter-of-factly embraced in America and acknowledges those leaders, many of whom are relatively unknown, despite their major contributions to the Negro race." Ms. Jackson is a graduate of Howard University and the former daughter-in-law of Maynard H. Jackson, Jr., the first Black mayor of Atlanta, Georgia. Ms. Jackson is currently working on her next book, Baby Trap: Examining the Impact of Illegitimacy in the Black Community.