The following is excerpted from the Church News. To read the full article, CLICK HERE.
Kayla Jackson is inspired by her grandmother, Marie Jackson Peoples. She was present when Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech. In spite of the challenges of discrimination, Peoples was the first member of her family not only to earn a college degree but two master’s degrees.
Jackson, marketing coordinator for the FamilySearch African heritage team, said her grandmother’s example instilled in her the idea to “be excellent” and work twice as hard.
As Jackson started doing more family history on her father’s side, she turned to Peoples to learn more about her family and her life growing up. She learned her great-grandfather owned a large portion of land in Caroline County, Virginia.
“That was so rare for a person of color to own their own land,” Jackson said. “It’s been incredible as I do my family history to have those conversations. I would have had no idea.”
Peoples recently restored her childhood home on this property. “To go back there and understand the significance of that property has deeply touched me and is profound and something that I’m so proud of,” Jackson said.
To read the full article, CLICK HERE.
