Lovely One

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism. 

“I come from a people who have faced extreme trials on American shores. Still, from slavery to segregation, my ancestors believed to their core in the possibility of a better world, one in which all men and women are viewed and treated as equals. My predecessors trusted each successive generation to live into that conviction. I have often reflected that perhaps the most fortuitous aspect of my journey to becoming the nation’s first Black woman Supreme Court justice was the timing of my birth.”

Jackson acknowledges that being born in the early 1970s meant that she had more opportunities than Black Americans from previous generations. By tracing her ancestors’ journey from enslavement to segregation to the modern day, she reminds the reader of the many generations of activism and resistance that made her life possible. By grounding her life and memoir in the context of the Black community, Jackson shares credit for her achievements with all who came before her and were denied the chance to fulfill their own potential.

“By 1939, both Horace and Euzera were dreaming of a less constrained existence than the one they were experiencing in rural Georgia. They had heard from neighbors and friends who had moved to South Florida that the city of Miami, though just as segregated as everywhere else in the Deep South, offered more opportunities to industrious Negroes, and had even invested in public housing that was helping to establish a Black middle class.”

By leaving Georgia and relocating to Miami, Jackson’s maternal grandparents undertook risk and hardship to acquire better opportunities for themselves and their children. By characterizing her grandparents as “industrious” dreamers like herself, Jackson portrays Ambition and Resilience as Keys to Achievement.

“My parents very intentionally instilled pride in our African heritage, and faith in the future, in me as well. When I was a toddler, they would sometimes dress me in mini-dashikis and kente fabrics and style my hair in Afro puffs.”

By embracing aspects of African culture and style, Jackson’s parents taught their daughter to take pride in her heritage even as others dismissed or underestimated her because of racism. These details highlight The Importance of Representation, as Jackson was raised with positive representations of Black identity and heritage. The sense of pride and confidence that came from this upbringing was a boon to Jackson as she navigated being a racial minority in her Miami school.