When African Methodist Episcopal Bishop Reginald T. Jackson was a student at Turner Theological Seminary in Atlanta a bishop once told students that “Georgia is for Georgians.”
Jackson, a native of Delaware, thought, “I guess that means I have to go home.”
Decades later, in 2016, Jackson returned to Georgia, as the presiding prelate of the 6th Episcopal District of Georgia, which is comprised of more than 500 churches and exceeds 96,000 members.
“Doesn’t God work in mysterious ways,” said Jackson, 70, who still recalls the words of the former bishop. “Not only was I able to come back to Georgia but to come back as bishop.”
Soon that role will end and another begin.
Now, as the AME Church holds its General Conference through Aug. 28 in Columbus, Ohio, it will also be the last one in which Jackson represents Georgia. Church policy allows for bishops to serve as many as two, four-year terms in the same district, then they are assigned elsewhere.
Now Jackson plans to repeat his efforts on voter education and mobilization at his new post as bishop of of the Second Episcopal District that includes churches in Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina.
In North Carolina, for instance, State Attorney General Josh Stein, a Democrat, is running against Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson.
Leaving the general conference, Jackson said Thursday he will be on the same flight as his Georgia successor, Bishop Michael Mitchell, who has served in Arkansas and Oklahoma.
Jackson said they will likely talk about the transition and the climate Mitchell will walk into just a few months before a new president is elected.
“I’m sure I will tell him that Georgia, as it has been for the last couple of elections, is important,” he said. “Whoever wins Georgia will win the presidency. The AME (Church) has a lot on the line in this because we went all out in the last election to get our people out to vote and to have an impact.”
Jackson will overseas the district for his last four-year term before mandatory retirement at 75.
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Jackson though, became a familiar figure in the fight against restrictive voting laws in Georgia.
He and other Black pastors criticized companies that remained silent or did too little to oppose the bill. They often found themselves at odds with Georgia’s predominately Republican legislators and sometimes its governor.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
In 2019, he renewed calls for a hate crime law in Georgia when a white teenage girl was arrested for planning an attack on an AME church in Gainesville and again the next year after the shooting death of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery in the Brunswick area by white men the next year
Jackson recounted in a recent meeting with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial board that he was surprised that Georgia was one of a handful of states without a hate crimes law.
When he raised the issue with Gov. Brian Kemp, Jackson said he was told that “Bishop, this is the new Georgia and we’re not going to tolerate hate in Georgia.” Ironically, shortly after that meeting the girl’s plot was discovered.
Jackson later said he didn’t think the threat got enough attention.
“if this had happened in an Episcopal church in Athens, this would be a major issue but because it happened to in Black church there doesn’t seem to resonate in Georgia,” he said.
The Rev. Gerald Durley, pastor emeritus at Providence Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta, has known the bishop for years.
He said Jackson has a strong understanding of the political realities and times and the spiritual awakening.
He called him a ”catalyst” who makes things happen.
In Jackson’s meeting with the AJC’s editorial board, he talked about a wide range of issues from civil rights, the foiled attack on the AME church and Georgia’s restrictive voting rights laws.
While he often spoke out on voter rights and civil rights, Jackson said he is also passionate about giving every Georgia access to quality health care.; increasing the living wage; education and prison reform.
“Without an education, too many of our brothers and sisters end up in prison,” he told the editorial board. “School ought not to be the pipeline to prison.”
Jackson said he hopes to return to Georgia after his retirement in four years. He and his wife, Christy Davis- Jackson, have two children — one adult and one in college.
“My eight years are coming to a close and I’m going to miss Georgia,” said Jackson. “I absolutely love it. The people are, by and large, very nice. I think it’s a beautiful state and it has so much potential.”
“On top of that, one of the things that really wedded me to Georgia is its rich history. ... I couldn’t get out of my mind that this is the home of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Hosea Williams and Andy Young. The leadership of the civil rights movement was mostly here in Georgia and, in a lot of ways, that helped sharpen and define my ministry.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated on Aug. 29 to reflect the new assignment for Georgia’s African Methodist Episcopal Bishop Reginald T. Jackson.
About the Author
