Bro. James A. “Billboard” Jackson

Brother James A. “Billboard” Jackson was a critic, reporter, editor, actor, spokesman, and booster of African American entertainment.

By the end of the second decade of the 20th century Bro. Jackson had become one of the first African Americans to recognize the importance of entertainment in the African American consumer market.  In 1920 he was named the first African American editor of the Negro Department of Billboard magazine, hence his nickname. Billboard magazine, located in New York City, NY, was then the largest theatrical paper in the world. Nonetheless, they wanted to increase their circulation by reaching the new consumer market of African Americans who were part of the Great Migration to Northern cities. “Jackson’s Page,” which specifically discussed African American entertainers in New York, Chicago, and other cities, began on November 6, 1920.  Soon, Northern African American newspapers picked up his columns and added the byline “Billboard” Jackson. His columns brought him in contact with numerous African American entertainment luminaries. Some Harlem Renaissance scholars credit him with having played a major role in promoting African American theatricals during the Harlem Renaissance.

In April 1937, Bro. Jackson traveled to Boston, MA to support Beta Alpha (undergraduate) and Pi Beta Sigma (alumni) chapters’ “Bigger Better Business Celebration.” Though the chapters were only 2 and 7 years old, respectively, this event spring boarded the Fraternity’s program into a viable national program. Bro. Jackson served as the event’s keynote speaker.

Bro. Jackson was a pioneer in a number of areas besides his role with Billboard magazine. Between 1927 and 1933 he was an advisor to the U.S. Department of Commerce on Black Business and Entrepreneurship. In 1934 he became the first African American to work for Esso Standard Oil Company as a marketing specialist in public relations where he remained for the next 21 years.

In 1940 he became the first African American member of the American Marketing Association. By this point, he was well connected with African American and white professional, commercial, and industrial groups. While working with that group he traveled across the United States, encouraging African American commercial development and industrial training for youth.

To this day Bro. Jackson’s legacy and contributions to the business world continue through Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.’s, James “Billboard” Jackson Entrepreneurial Program which awards business development grants bi-annually to one undergraduate and one alumni Brother for his or her creation of a business.