Jackson, Lydia Flood, 1862-1963

Oakland's oldest living native: "She is Mrs. Lydia Flood Jackson lives with nephew, Leslie Flood and his wife on Myrtle St; born to Isaac and Elizabeth Flood on June 9, 1862, in Oakland; She remembers attending the private school conducted by her mother at the African Methodist Church; Isaac Flood and his wife were among the founders of mission, when the church was organized in 1864 they were among the trustees

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP); Lydia Flood Jackson, 101-year-old daughter of a pioneer California Negro leader and the first Negro to attend Oakland public schools, is dead; oldest native of Oakland at the time of her death Monday; father, Isaac Flood, freed in 1838 and came to California during the gold rush with his wife, Elizabeth; Mrs. Jackson's mother founded California's first school for Negroes in 1954; 1871 her father led a successful fight to have Negro children admitted to Alameda County public schools; daughter led the way, attending the old John Swell School and later night classes at Oakland School; longtime leader in the California Association of Colored Women

Lydia Flood Jackson June 6, 1862, Oakland, CA – July 8, 1963; mother Elizabeth Thorn Scott opened Sacramento's first school for black children in 1854 and in 1857 she opened the first school for black children in Oakland; father Isaac Flood was born in South Carolina, and was part of the California Colored Convention Movement to fight segregation in California schools; Lydia was the first black student to attend John Swett School in Oakland; family was one of the founding families of the Shiloh African Methodist Episcopal Church in Oakland; as a businesswoman, Flood-Jackson created and produced a line of beauty products and perfumes for African-American women, known as "Flood Toilet Creams"; She traveled and lectured often; active clubwoman, and first legislative chair and first citizenship chair of the California Federation of Colored Women's Clubs; spoke for women's suffrage at the first meeting of the California federation, 1918; married William Jackson; On the occasion of her 100th birthday, Flood-Jackson was honored by the City of Oakland as its "oldest living native"; died in 1963, aged 101 years