Detroit doctor, 89, sat in front row of Martin Luther King Jr.'s funeral

Dr. William A. Jackson is accustomed to keeping busy. A personal phone call to him during a weekday afternoon may result in a short reply, or no reply at all if he is taking care of patients.

Even when his daily office hours are complete, it's not uncommon for Jackson to do some shopping or take care of any other myriad of chores. It's just a typical day. And he says the fact that he maintains this routine, even at 89 years old, is no big deal.

"Doesn't everyone do those things to live?" Jackson quipped in a good-natured tone last Friday afternoon — his 89th birthday.

Jackson's voice has a soft, velvety tone that matches his smooth, ambling gait. Naturally, he doesn't move as fast as he did when he ran track as a young man. Yet, he's always on the move. A quick survey of his personal office, with its many stacks of papers and files, paints a picture of a doctor who is still vibrant and very much into his work. But the perpetually busy Jackson said he plans to take a little break Monday, in observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, a day he says he will use for reflection. And given the full life he has led, Jackson certainly has much to reflect on.

Jackson still shows up daily to his practice at 14103 Fenkell Ave., in Detroit’s Bethune Community on the city’s west side. In doing so, he continues to live up to the standards instilled in him at his alma mater, Morehouse College, whose mission is “to develop men with disciplined minds who will lead lives of leadership and service.” It is a mission that more than 20,000 “Morehouse Men” have taken on, including Martin Luther King Jr., who graduated from Morehouse in 1948 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology.

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While the country pays tribute to the civil rights icon, Nobel Peace Prize recipient, famed orator and “dreamer,” Jackson, from his Detroit home, will quietly celebrate his Morehouse brother, whom he came face to face with on more than one occasion after graduating from the private, all-male, historically Black college in Atlanta.

“I view Dr. King as the ultimate example of what Morehouse College is and what Morehouse aspires for its students,” said Jackson, a 1954 Morehouse graduate, who was born in Birmingham, Alabama. “And it’s not just about what he accomplished out in the world, it also has to do with who he was as a human being. Dr. King was always available if you were in his orbit. He was very relatable, easy to talk to, and he never shunned anyone.”

As an undergraduate student at Morehouse, the future Dr. Jackson occupied the same spaces that King had, including sitting in classrooms and absorbing information from the same professors, attending services at the same chapel, and singing in the famed Morehouse College Glee Club, the same glee club whose members once included Dr. King, who sang as a tenor.

“The quality of Black colleges should not be questioned,” Jackson stated plainly. “I can count 19 in my head from my graduating class (of 56 total) that went to medical school. But the others that didn’t got Ph.D.s or master's degrees in other fields.”

It was a few years after graduating from medical school at the University of Illinois Chicago in 1958, during the turbulent decade of the 1960s, that Jackson would have his first direct contact with King. Jackson recalls one encounter taking place on a sidewalk in front of the legendary Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. "He was coming out of and I was walking up to the church, and we had a five- to 10-minute conversation," said Jackson, who was visiting Atlanta during graduation season.

Another connection occurred in 1966, in Chicago, during the Chicago Freedom Movement, which addressed systemic racial segregation in the Windy City and its suburbs and was led by King, James Bevel and Al Raby. "I would call and find out which church was hosting the rallies, and when I could, I would drive to the church and record the sermons," Jackson recalled. "We had the reel-to-reel recorders and sometimes after the sermons I would have a short conversation with Dr. King. I don't remember the exact conversations, but we sometimes talked about what he covered in the sermons."

One day that Jackson does remember vividly from that year was when he was in the office of then-Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley, who had issued a proclamation observing Sept. 17 as “Lovie Jackson Delgado Day” in Chicago, to honor Jackson’s late sister’s humanitarian efforts in America and Africa, which included working in Senegal's foreign ministry. When Daley used the occasion to ask Jackson what he thought about the movement led by King, Jackson expressed his support for his Morehouse brother with no hesitation.

The final time that Jackson was up close to King would come two years later, in 1968. And the locale was again Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where funeral services were held following King’s assassination on April 4, 1968.

“Sitting there, I was still shocked, as everyone was. But I had a desire to do what he (King) was doing and make a difference,'' said Jackson, who sat in the front row during the services. “We had to complete his mission, and I felt that everyone should be doing their part.”

One of the people most responsible for Jackson being able to transform that “emotionally charged” moment into constructive action was Benjamin Mays, who sat right next to him at King’s funeral. The president of Morehouse from 1940 until 1967, Mays was a mentor to King, Jackson and many other distinguished “Morehouse Men.” As Jackson put it: “Dr. Mays gave us that impetus to conquer the world.”

After practicing medicine in various areas of Illinois, including Chicago, for 25 years, Jackson brought his sense of mission and purpose to Detroit in 1986. He said he came to Detroit because of a woman. And while that relationship did not last, he has developed an enduring bond with the city.

“It was a providential move coming to Detroit,” said Jackson, a Detroit Medical Society board member. “It has worked out well, and I do believe it was my destiny to come here.”

Jackson has run his general medical practice at his current Detroit location since August 1991. During that time, he has formed a partnership with Dr. Terry Wynn, who opened the Wynn Women’s Center at the same address. Combined, Jackson says the pair is “providing modern-day medicine and old-fashioned care.” But on his 89th birthday, the 2019 "Morehouse Alumnus of the Year" served up what could be described as spiritual medicine to a collection of “Morehouse Men” and current Morehouse students that visited his office Friday afternoon.

Speaking from his heart in an authoritative tone to a group -- one that included Curtis Johnson, Class of 1988; Ponce Clay, Class of 1996; Lester Houge Jr., Class of 2015; Azola Martin, Class of 2025; and Christian Kimble and Andre Spivey (son of former Detroit City Councilman Andre Spivey), Class of 2024 -- Jackson often turned the attention away from himself, sharing rich stories about people and institutions he admires, like his late sister, Lovie Jackson Delgado; King; Mays and Morehouse College.

Afterward, Jackson explained why he believes every man that visited Friday — the same men that sang "Happy Birthday" to him “Stevie Wonder-style” — will continue to be successful in life.

“In my day, your survival was your network. And I still believe that to be true,” said Jackson, who remains connected to the Detroit chapter of the Morehouse College National Alumni Association. "Morehouse Men are not standoffish, we always share and ask questions of each other.”

Earlier in the week, Jackson had also expressed optimism for the future of the country that will honor his Morehouse brother on Monday.

“We must continue to improve, but I’m very optimistic because I see positive change,” Jackson said.

Jackson, like King, said he, too, believes in the power of dreams, and that belief fuels his hopes for America.

“I believe dreams are visions, ideas and thoughts of a possible future that God gives us as guides to success. Dreams are answers to difficult questions and solutions to seemingly unsolvable problems.”

Scott Talley is a native Detroiter, a proud product of Detroit Public Schools and lifelong lover of Detroit culture in all of its diverse forms. In his second tour with the Free Press, which he grew up reading as a child, he is excited and humbled to cover the city’s neighborhoods and the many interesting people who define its various communities. Contact him at: stalley@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @STalleyfreep. Read more of Scott's stories at www.freep.com/mosaic/detroit-is/.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit's doctor was in front row at Martin Luther King Jr.'s funeral