Myrna Carter Jackson, Prominent Birmingham Civil Rights Activist, Dies at 82

By Barnett Wright | The Birmingham Times Myrna Carter Jackson, a Birmingham civic leader and Foot Soldier who participated in marches, sit-ins, demonstrations and other Civil Rights activities, died on May 31. She was 82. Mrs. Jackson, who was arrested and jailed twice during the 1963 marches, went on to become one of the city’s most visible and prominent activists serving in leadership with the Birmingham NAACP and joining the board of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI) where she educated tour groups from around the world about the city’s history and role in global change for human rights. She stood out not only in the community, but among family as well. “She was our most respected aunt,” said her niece Tracy Boone, of Birmingham. “You respect all of your aunts because of who they are but there just something different about her. We called all of our aunts by their first names, but you couldn’t call her by her first name. You either had to call her ‘Mrs. Jackson’ ‘Mrs. Myrna’ or ‘Aunt Myrna’ … and everybody called her ‘auntie’. If you say mama, ‘auntie’s on the phone’ she didn’t have to say which one. She knew who it...