Historian of Black Virginia

This article uses the published works of historian Dr. Luther Porter Jackson (1892–1950) to argue that he used Black Virginia history to inform contemporary and later studies about Antebellum slavery, Reconstruction, and the "Long Civil Rights Movement." Born in Lexington, Kentucky, and educated in New York City and Chicago, Jackson became the authority on Black Virginia life. His publications on slavery, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow collectively argued that Blacks pushed the Commonwealth of Virginia closer to fulfilling the American promise of liberty and justice for all. Jackson's well-cited works not only inspired later historians to implement similar analytical methods, but they also contributed to the movement against White scholars relegating Blacks to the margins of American historiography. Thus, this article adds to the consensus that Black historians helped modernize the historical profession by combatting racist propaganda that long masqueraded as legitimate scholarship. This article also answers specific calls to analyze the scholastic contributions of Luther Jackson. While publishing fewer appreciated works than his White counterparts, Jackson contributed more intellectually to his field than previously acknowledged

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