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of this Black youth rebellion were the student uprisings at Fisk University (1925),
Howard University (1925-6), and the wave of revolts that hit as many as half the
other predominantly Black colleges in 1926-1928. Both the cultural renaissance
and the student uprisings were publicized through the Black press (indeed, the Afro
became a virtual participant in the Howard rebellion), and their tradition was
transmitted through a plethora of Black organizational networks, including the
Black fraternities and sororities. The Jackson's connected with this tradition in
Philadelphia (and may well have been aware of it earlier in Baltimore), and their
experiences, especially those of Juanita, at the predominantly white colleges they

•10

attended represented a later phase and form of this youth movement10

Returning to Baltimore after graduating from their respective colleges in
mid-1931, the Jackson sisters re-entered a familiar, if depressing, environment.
Because of their personal and family contacts, their membership in a relatively
influential stratum of their community, and their deep roots in the community's
culture they were home again, and they were immediately drawn into community
life. But they had changed: they had experienced first-hand a less racist social
environment, proven themselves intellectually, gained self-confidence, and
developed greater aspirations. If Baltimore was on the border of the two major
socio-cultural regions of American, they had experienced life across this border, on
the Northern side. They had, especially Juanita, involved themselves in social
struggle, gained political skills, witnessed change occur, and were, in effect, the
carriers of a culture of youth rebellion. Their deeply ingrained Christian outlook
had evolved in a socially-conscious, activist direction, and they saw themselves as
pan of the Black freedom movement. With their intimate ties to the community,
and their new outlook and desires, they found themselves with both the will and the
ability to rally important sectors of Black Baltimore Black to action.