Holds Marketing Post with Standard Oil

Jackson had indeed performed well, yet he was unemployed for two years. His skills and connections then led him to a post with Esso Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, which he served as special representative to the African American community. At that time, Standard Oil was perhaps the largest business enterprise in the world. Beginning in 1934, Jackson was one of the few blacks working in such a capacity for a major white company. He became an asset to Standard Oil and was promoted several times. He knew the African American market very well—something that proved beneficial to Standard Oil—and he helped aspiring young blacks prepare for service as filling station-operators. He also prepared them for other business ventures. Writing in Crisis magazine for 1935, Jackson noted that Standard Oil had always maintained a substantial number of blacks on its payrolls; the company “has given every reason for the Negro to look upon the company and its affiliates with favor.” His work with Standard Oil made him nationally prominent. Originally hired for six months, he served the company altogether for twenty years. When he was eligible for retirement in 1941, the company kept him on as a special representative in public relations, on a yearly basis, until he retired in 1954.

Jackson was a member of the National Association of Market Developers (NAMD), founded in 1953. By then, many large companies in the United States hired “Negro Market” specialists to help them attract African American consumers. These specialists were never included in the companies’ meetings where marketing and strategic issues were discussed and, in fact, were isolated from white market developers. The black specialists reacted by forming a mutual support organization and social network. NAMD’s early membership read like a “Who’s Who” of African Americans in the business arena, and included one of the most well-known men of such stature, James “Billboard” Jackson. Jackson was also a member of the American Marketing Association, which he joined in the mid-1940s, becoming its first and only black member. He spoke at its 1947 annual convention. He was an advisory board member of Friendship College in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Other memberships included board of director, the National Negro Business League; National Negro Press Association; Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; Association of Special Agents; NAACP; National Fair Officials Association; Business Men’s Exchange; the Elks; League of Teachers in Business Education; American Teachers Association; founding member, Association of Business Education; board of trustees, Pioneer Business Institute (in Philadelphia); Clef Club (which he also served as honorary vice president); Florence Mills Club; and Negro Actors Guild. As well, he was a 33rd degree active Mason and at one time grand historian, United Supreme Council of the Masons. His social organizations included the Hiawatha Club (Los Angeles); Red Caps (Chicago); DePriest Fifteen (Washington, D.C.); and founder, Tri-Esso Club of Standard Oil Company. In addition to his membership in the Republican Party, he belonged to Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity According to his obituary in the New York Times , he was an active or honorary member of over thirty-seven fraternal and business organizations.

In Pages from the Harlem Renaissance: A Chronicle of Performance , Anthony D. Hill described Jackson as “bright, confident, self-motivated, and [a] indefatigable journeyman.” Hill said also that he was “a tall, clean shaven, full-faced, fair-complexioned man with a receding hair-line.” By age forty-two, Hill described him as stout and neatly dressed “in his usual professional attire—a dark suit, white shirt, and a tie that exuded the air of a distinguished gentleman.” He married Gabrielle Bell Hill on April 6, 1909. Jackson was devoted to his wife, and she accompanied him on many of his early travels for the railroad police. They had one son, Albert, who became an actor on the black stage. While their early addresses are unknown, at least in later life the Jacksons lived at 312 Manhattan Avenue in New York City. Jackson died on November 15, 1960, and was survived by his wife, his son, a brother, and two sisters. His funeral was held at the Grace Congregational Church in Harlem, where he was a member. It was also the church of choice for many show business people, whose profession was not considered honorable unless in performance for the church. Gabrielle Jackson’s funeral was held there as well, in 1961. The accounts of Jackson’s life show that he was successful in every major assignment that he undertook and that he became known for his work in these areas, chiefly in promotional work in entertainment, business, and advertising, and in transcending racial barriers