Skip to content

Biography · Politics & Public Life

Blyden Jackson (novelist)

1937–2012

United States

BIOGRAPHYPortrait not availableExplore the life, work and source references.
Visit the source record ↗

Biography

Blyden Brown Jackson Jr. (June 2, 1936 – April 29, 2012) was an American civil rights activist, marine, author, and emergency medical technician. He is best known for his novels Operation Burning Candle and Totem. He was born in New Haven, Connecticut and died in Bayonne, New Jersey. During his life he served in the US Marines, where his experiences helped shape the writing of Operation Burning Candle. He served as the chairman of the New Haven, Connecticut chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in the early-to-mid-1960s. He later founded and became the chairman of East River CORE, located on the east side of 125th Street in Harlem, in New York City. His last novel, For One Day of Freedom, was published posthumously by ANTIBOOKCLUB in December 2021.

Sources & collection details

Wikipedia contributors — original record ↗

Black heritage reference ↗

Biography text · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source checked 2026-10-20

Continue exploring Series 1

Science & Invention →Arts, Music & Culture →Civil Rights & Public Life →

Explore all Series 1 cards →