Jackson, Lydia Flood, 1862-1963

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

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

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