Maynard Jackson
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Maynard Holbrook Jackson, Jr. (March 23, 1938 – June 23, 2003) was an American politician, a member of the Democratic Party, and,the first African-American mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, USA. He served three terms, two consecutive terms from 1974 until 1982 and a third term from 1990 to 1994.
His grandfather was civil rights leader John Wesley Dobbs. Jackson graduated from Morehouse College in 1956 when he was only eighteen. After attending Boston University law school for a short time, he held several jobs, including selling encyclopedias, before attending the North Carolina Central University law school, graduating in 1964.
He helped rebuild Hartsfield International Airport to modern standards, which was renamed Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in his honor shortly after his death. He was also mayor when MARTA began rapid transit service in Atlanta, and when Atlanta won as host of the 1996 Centennial Summer Olympics in September 1990. His term as mayor also coincided with the Atlanta Child Murders case, in which he played a prominent role.
He died of cardiac arrest at an Arlington, Virginia hospital after suffering a heart attack at Reagan National Airport in June 2003. He is buried on commons ground at Oakland Cemetery, on a plot dedicated by the City of Atlanta.
Jackson was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African Americans.
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