Mae Jackson
Waco Mayor
Questions
#1. Where and when was she born?
#2. What were the results when people voted?
#3. What was her role in the government?
#4. How many years was she in government?
#5. How did the citizens of Waco and the people in the
government view her?
#6. When did she die?
Answers
#1. She was born in Teague, Texas. She was born on September 10, 1941.
#2. Mae Jackson,62 years old, got 2,453 votes. Maurice Labens,74 years old,
got 2,187 votes. Randy Riggs,41 years old, got 1,546 votes. Bruce Dyer, 72
years old, got less than 90 votes. Chris “Scottie” Josely, 22 years old, got less
than 90 votes.
#3. Mae Jackson’s role in the government was Waco Mayor.
#4. She was in the government for 5 years. She was a city council woman for
4 years, and a mayor for 1 year.
#5. Lyndon Olson Jr., a Democratic activist and former U.S. ambassador of
Sweden, said, “She’s a very direct, very honest person. She didn’t believe
there were any limits to what she could do with her life.” Congressman Chet
Edwards called her a “barrier breaker and a bridge builder.” McLennan County
Commissioner, Lester Gibson, said, “Mae Jackson left foot prints that are
easily followed.”
#6. She died on February 11,2005. She lived to be 63 years old. Some say
she died of a blood clot.
Mae’s Quotes
“If you are really sincere about wanting to help people,
no matter who they are, no matter where they live, that’s a
true born leader.”
“The mayor’ s job is to look at the bigger picture in
terms of what’s good for Waco all over.”
“When I was thinking about running for mayor, I talked
to a woman out on Harris Creek I’ve known for years. I
was asking if she’d support me. And she said, ‘Mae, I
don’t have any trouble supporting you. You’ve always
represented the majority with-out sacrificing the needs of
the minority.’ And that’s what I grew up believing. That’s
my philosophy.”
Extra Information
Education:Valedictorian, Booker T. Washington High
School (1958) in Teague; B.S., Texas Southern University in
Houston; Master of Social Work, Our Lady of the Lake
University in San Antonio; doctorate, University of Texas at
Arlington.
Public Service: *President of the Local Coalition of
Black Democrats, Waco, in 1978. *Vice chairwoman,
Governor’s Commission for Women, from 1985 to 1987.
Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, from 1991 to 1997.
*Waco District 1 councilwoman, from 2000 to 2004.
*Waco Mayor, from May 24, 2004 to February 11,2005.
Extra Information
Mae Jackson and her husband, Dillard
Huddleston, had three kids, two girls and one boy,
and a grandchild.
Jackson was a volunteer in many
organizations, such as the Laura Edwards Day
Care Center, Mental Health Association, Waco
Boys Club, and many more.
Jackson did many things as a mayor. For
example, she brought Antioch Baptist and First
Baptist together, and she brought Democrats and
Republicans together, and that’s just a few of the
many contributions she made to the city of Waco.
Extra Information
When Mae was on Waco’s city council, she fought for
funding the new city community center at Quinn Campus,
the formerly abandoned college campus in East Waco.
When Mae entered the 2004 mayoral race, she was
thinking of some ideas to make Waco a better place. Some
of her ideas were increasing tourism and downtown
development, building a new library, expanding the
convention center, reducing homelessness and improving
housing stock in older neighborhoods.