Jackson, Maynard Holbrook, Jr., 1938–2003, American politician, b. Dallas, Tex., grad. Morehouse College (B.A., 1956), North Carolina Central Univ. (J.D., 1964). Jackson, a Democratic lawyer with a confidently confrontational style, entered politics in 1968 with a strong but unsuccessful run for the U.S. Senate. Elected vice mayor of Atlanta in 1969, he won the mayoralty in 1973, becoming the first African-American mayor of a major Southern city. Serving three terms (1974–82, 1990–94), he established landmark affirmative-action programs and gave African Americans a greatly enlarged role in Atlanta's political and economic life.
See G. M. Pomerantz, Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn (1996).
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