New Mural Honors Inez Jackson in San Jose

The African American Community Service Agency unveiled a mural honoring Inez Jackson in San Jose on May 19, adding a new public tribute to a woman whose name is already attached to the agency’s library. The work was reported by The Mercury News as a new recognition of Jackson’s place in the city’s civil rights history. The mural sits at the agency’s site on North Sixth Street near Julian Street, where AACSA has operated for decades. The project also ties Jackson’s legacy to the library space that has borne her name since 1981. ### Who was Inez Jackson, and why is San Jose honoring her now? Inez Jackson was an activist, teacher and postal worker who became San Jose’s first Black postal clerk in 1949 after a campaign against discrimination, according to the Womanhood Project and a fundraising page for the mural. She had moved to California after studying at Langston University in Oklahoma and was blocked from teaching in San Jose schools, the Womanhood Project says. (mercurynews.com) Jackson later became a leading figure in local civil rights and community institutions. The Mercury News said the mural honors her as San Jose’s first Black postal worker and notes that she later led the boards of the NAACP and YWCA in Santa Clara County. The Womanhood Project says she became president of the local NAACP branch in 1969 and was the first African American president of the YWCA in San Jose. (fundrazr.com) ### What is the connection between Jackson and the African American Community Service Agency? The African American Community Service Agency was founded in 1978, and Jackson was one of its co-founders, according to AACSA and the mural fundraising page. The agency describes itself as one of Silicon Valley’s few African American cultural centers and says its mission is to preserve the dignity and culture of a diverse African American community while promoting full participation in Santa Clara County and broader society. (mercurynews.com) The Inez C. Jackson Library at AACSA was established in 1981 in her honor, according to the Womanhood Project. That detail helps explain why the mural was placed on or alongside the library space rather than elsewhere in the city: the site already serves as one of the most direct physical links between Jackson’s name and the institution she helped build. ### What do we know about the mural itself? (fundrazr.com) The mural project was organized in partnership with AACSA and local artist Ian Young, according to the FundRazr campaign created by Local Color. The campaign said the goal was to “paint a legacy mural” commemorating Jackson’s life and work and to create a landmark for the building that could draw new visitors to AACSA. The fundraising page set a $20,000 goal and showed more than $15,000 raised when it was captured by the web tool. (womanhoodproject.org) Local Color said the mural was intended both to beautify the building and to memorialize the namesake of the Inez Jackson Library. ### Why does the library partnership matter here? San Jose Public Library appears to be part of the broader library programming around the site, as referenced in the story context, though the library system’s public pages reviewed here did not surface a separate announcement for the mural. (fundrazr.com) AACSA’s website lists open-library programming at 304 N. Sixth St., the same address associated with the agency. That makes the mural part of a larger effort to connect local history, community programming and public-facing cultural space in one location. This is an inference based on the site materials and the reported partnership. ### Where does this fit in San Jose’s local history work? San Jose organizations have been building more public-facing records of Black local history, and Jackson’s story already appears in projects outside AACSA. The Womanhood Project, supported by the County of Santa Clara Office of Women’s Policy, includes a profile of Jackson that traces her life from Texas and Oklahoma to San Jose activism. AACSA’s own materials describe the agency as a long-running cultural hub for the Black community in Silicon Valley. (sjaacsa.org) The mural adds a permanent visual marker to that record. Unlike a plaque or a library name alone, it places Jackson’s image and story on the exterior of a building tied to the organization she helped found. The next public-facing AACSA events listed on the agency’s website include a dance class on May 21, 2026, at 304 N. Sixth St. and the Juneteenth Freedom Ball on June 7, 2026. Those events will take place at the same community institution where the new mural now stands. (womanhoodproject.org) (sjaacsa.org) (fundrazr.com)