Maurice Jackson teaches in the History and African American Studies Departments and is Affiliated Professor of Music (Jazz) at Georgetown University. Before coming to academe, he worked as a longshoreman, shipyard rigger, construction worker and community organizer. He is author of Let This Voice Be Heard: Anthony Benezet, Father of Atlantic Abolitionism, co-editor of African-Americans and the Haitian Revolution, of Quakers and their Allies in the Abolitionist Cause,1754-1808 and DC Jazz: Stories of Jazz Music in Washington, DC. Jackson wrote the liner notes to the 2 jazz CDs by Charlie Haden and Hank Jones, Steal Away: Spirituals, Folks Songs and Hymns and Come Sunday. He has recently lectured in France, Turkey, Italy, Puerto Rico, and Qatar. He served on Georgetown University Slavery Working Group. A 2009 inductee into the Washington, D.C. Hall of Fame he was appointed by the Mayor and the DC Council as Inaugural Chair of the DC Commission on African American Affairs (2013-16) and presented “An Analysis: African American Employment, Population & Housing Trends in Washington, D.C.” to the Mayor and elected leaders of the D.C. government in 2017. He is completing work on Halfway to Freedom: The Struggles and Strivings of African American in Washington, DC to be published by Duke University Press. His next books will be We Knew No Other Way: The Many-Sided Struggle for Freedom and Black Radicalism: A Very Short Introduction.
He and his wife Laura Ginsburg live in DC and have two children. Lena is a 2003 graduate of the National Cathedral School for Girls and a 2007 graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and was a member of the varsity track team. She recently received her MA in documentary film at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Lena now works as a producer for the PBS NewsHour. Miles is a 2006 graduate of the St. Albans School of Boys and a 2010 graduate of the University of Michigan where he was a member of the Men's Soccer team. He is the founder and executive director of Cuba Skate, which promotes understanding between US and Cuba youth through the sport of skateboarding.