FORMER DEPUTY MAYOR DOROTHY JACKSON TO DELIVER 2013 MLK LECTURE

Dorothy O. Jackson, known as “Akron’s goodwill ambassador” will speak on Sunday, January 20, 2013 at 2 p.m. in the Main Library Auditorium.Dorothy O. Jackson has been a tireless, lifelong social activist. She has given her voice and support to issues that concern the poor and disabled in the Akron area for decades.

Ms. Jackson served as Deputy Mayor of the City of Akron for nearly 20 years. She was the first African-American woman to serve in an Akron mayor’s cabinet. Ms. Jackson retired in June 2003 but continues her community activism. Prior to becoming Deputy Mayor, Ms. Jackson worked for Goodwill Industries, followed by a sixteen-year career with the Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority as the Social and Tenant Services Administrator.

Ms. Jackson’s numerous awards include the Bert A. Polsky Humanitarian Award, the Ohio Black Women Leadership Caucus Rosa Parks Award, United Way Distinguished Service Award, Akron Urban League Community Service Award and induction into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame and the African American History Makers, Inc. An AMHA 28-unit handicapped housing development was named Dorothy O. Jackson Terrace in her honor and the Jewish National Fund named a park in Israel in her honor.

The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Lecture is presented by the Akron-Summit County Public Library and the Eta Tau Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, Inc. The library and fraternal organization began the lecture in 1985.

For more information call 330-643-9090 or visit www.akronlibrary.org.