Biography
Early Life
Eunice Cloman was born on August 27, 1903, in Lake Village, Arkansas. Her father, John Allen Cloman, and her mother, Bettie Rebecca (Walker) Cloman, were both schoolteachers. After her father passed, her mother moved to Tulsa so that her five children could receive a better education. Her mother worked as the owner of a rooming house.
Cloman married Samuel Malone (S.M.) Jackson in 1923. Jackson attended Cincinnati’s School of Embalming. He moved to Tulsa in 1917 and opened Jackson Undertaking Company.
The Tulsa Massacre occurred in the city’s Oklahoma’s Greenwood District. This large, rich African American community was also known as The Black Wall Street. White mobs looted and set fire to homes, schools, churches, and businesses. An estimated 300 people were killed and 1200 homes destroyed. S.M Jackson was attending to bodies at his funeral home that evening when the building was set on fire by white rioters. He helped an elderly woman escape as he fled. S.M Jackson embalmed the bodies of 26 Black residents since white undertakers refused to do so. Many of the victims were too injured to be embalmed.
Eunice Jackson was only 18 years old when the massacre occurred. Her family tried to escape from the riot. They were stopped by the National Guard and taken to Convention Hall. They were only allowed to leave when her mother’s white employer approved their release. The Jacksons helped rebuild Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church after the massacre.
Community Leadership and Activism
Jackson was a member of the Oklahoma Federation of Negro Women’s Clubs. This group was key to improving school conditions for children, building parks and libraries, and making overall social improvements. The club helped pass a state constitutional amendment in October of 1918 for women’s suffrage. She also volunteered for the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) among other civic organizations.
Jackson Undertaking filed a lawsuit against the City of Tulsa, the mayor, the Police Commissioner, the Chief of Police, and other corporations and officials after the massacre. In the lawsuit, S. M. Jackson recalls how there were no laws for citizens’ protection. He accused city workers of conspiracy to destroy the lives and property of Tulsa citizens. There were also allegations against the police captain George Blaine, citing him for riding in an airplane to drop bombs and turpentine balls during the incident. S. M. Jackson’s case was dismissed in 1937.
Jackson Undertaking was rebuilt as the Jackson Funeral Home after the massacre. It was owned by S. M., Eunice, Esco, and Bertha Jackson until 1948. Although S. M. and Eunice separated, they founded Jack’s Memory Chapel in 1948. It operated until 1976.
Legacy
Jackson and her husband launched Jack’s Memory Chapel. This is one of only two companies in Greenwood that can be traced back to Tulsa before the massacre.
