A GA State Senator friend by the name of Lester Jackson came up in an article that I was reading the other day, so I decided to Google him to see what else he had been up to. In my search I came across a documentary entitled "Black and Red: The life of Lester Jackson". Slightly intrigued, I viewed the hour long documentary, only to discover an interesting and compelling black man of our history that I had never heard of before.
Lester Jackson was an immigrant from
Germany; he somehow fled to
America without his parents when he was 14 years of age. His adolescent years do not have much documentation, but when he reached his twenties he began to frequent the Harlem Jazz scene in
New York. He was a musician, could speak several languages and was a tall, attractive man. Women and men were very drawn to him.
His charisma in
New York was evident, which led him to fall into a movie role that eventually propelled him into a movie star figure in
New York during the 1940's.
After conquering the black movie scene in NY, he moved to
California to become an international soccer player. His fame as a former actor and then soccer player allowed him to become a spokesperson for many social issues.
In his 40’s, he ran for Senator of New Jersey on the communist ticket. But shortly after he ran, Lester Jackson was missing and no one has heard of his where abouts for 25 years. Clearly he was an intriguing person and his short life story is even more intriguing.
Check out the documentary, it was made 5 years ago, and gives alot of insight to a person that you probably never knew exsisted.
Black and Red: The Life of Lester Jackson
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