When Lydia Flood Jackson died at 101 in 1963, she was the oldest native of Oakland.
She was the daughter of a formerly enslaved person, the first Negro to attend an integrated Oakland public school in 1872, and became a leader of the women’s suffrage movement in 1918.
Lydia was born on June 9, 1862, at her family home in Brooklyn Township, now a part of Oakland.
She died on June 9, 1963. Services were held at the First A.M.E. Church in Oakland, California, formerly known as the Shiloh African Methodist Episcopal Church, which her parents helped found in 1858.
Negro Trail Blazers
Her father was Isaac Flood, and her mother was Elizabeth Thorn (Thorne) Scott Flood. They were among the outstanding Negro pioneers of California, according to the historical publication “Negro Trail Blazers of California.”
Her father was born into slavery in South Carolina and was freed in 1838; he traveled to California during the Gold Rush, settling in Oakland.
In 1854 her mother founded California’s first Negro School in Sacramento and was the first teacher. She founded a private school for minority groups in Alameda County in 1858 when Indians, Negroes, and Chinese were not allowed in White public schools. The school was at their home at 1334 East 15th Street in Oakland.
The Floods had a son, George, who is believed to be the first African-American child born in Alameda County. Elizabeth and Isaac Flood were among the earliest African-American families in the Oakland area and one of the most prominent and progressive.
Education
In 1871 her father, a leader of the Colored Convention, successfully fought to have Negro children admitted to public schools.
The Oakland School Board passed the following resolution:
In 1872, his daughter Lydia became the first student to attend the Swett School (later the Old Bella Vista School). Then, she attended night school at Oakland High and married John William Jackson in 1889.
Activist and Clubwoman
Jackson was a member of the Native Daughter’s Club and the Fannie Jackson Coppin Club for forty-two years. Jackson was a leader in the California Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs. While a member of the Federation, she was on them to demand women’s suffrage. While addressing the organization’s 1918 state convention, she told her audience.
“Today we are standing on the threshold of a great era looking into futurity to the mid-day sun of Democracy”
Lydia Flood Jackson 1918
Entrepreneur and Inventor
She founded Flood Toilet Creams, a successful West Coast cosmetic business that manufactured toiletries, creams, and perfumes. (I wish I could find more information on this)
Lydia Flood Jackson was honored on her 100th birthday by the City of Oakland as their “oldest living native and daughter of the first Negro school teacher in California.”
More Info:
- Obituary – Oakland Tribune Jul 10, 1963
- Isaac Flood Dies – Oakland Tribune Nov 1, 1892
- Lydia Flood Jackson – Black Past
- Elizabeth Thorn Scott Flood – Black Past
- Lydia Flood Jackson – Wikipedia
- Colored Conventions – California