@the_town_crier2.0: Israel Jackson, known to history as Israel Nero Jackson, is the great-grandfather of Michael Jackson on his father's side, and the man from whom the famous Jackson name truly begins. His story is one of slavery, survival, and endurance, passed down by Joe Jackson in his book "The Jacksons". Israel was born in 1838 in Amite County, Mississippi. His father was July "Jack" Gale, a Choctaw Native American, a tribal shaman and former scout for the U.S. Army who was respected for his healing knowledge. His mother was Gina, an enslaved Black woman. Under American law at that time, a child followed the status of the mother. So although his father was a free man, Israel was born a slave. As a boy, Israel was given the nickname "Nero." People called him Nero, son of Jack. Over time, that phrase, Nero Jack-son, became the family surname: Jackson. Joe Jackson described Nero as tall, light-skinned, with high cheekbones and small sparkling eyes, features inherited from both his Choctaw and African heritage. He was proud and strong-willed. Jack began teaching his son the traditional healing and shaman knowledge he carried. But that inheritance was interrupted by slavery. As a young boy, Nero was sold away from his parents to a plantation in Louisiana. Life there was brutal. Like other enslaved people, he was forced to eat from a trough and endure constant punishment. Nero refused to accept that life. He attempted to escape several times. Each time he was caught, he was beaten almost to death. On one occasion, his captors heated metal tongs and squeezed his nose with them, burning him so badly he lost feeling in his face. The scars remained for the rest of his life. Yet he survived. After slavery ended, Israel Nero Jackson lived as a free man in Mississippi. He married Emeline Williams and raised a large family. One of his sons, Samuel Joseph Jackson (born 1893), became a schoolteacher in Arkansas. Samuel was Joe Jackson's father, making Israel Joe's grandfather and Michael's great-great-grandfather in generational terms, though the family calls him great-grandfather. Israel lived an extraordinarily long life, dying on October 12, 1934, at about 96 years old. From a child born into slavery, tortured for seeking freedom, he lived to see his descendants move north during the Great Migration, laying the foundation for a family that, just 24 years after his death, would produce Michael Jackson in Gary, Indiana.

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Tuesday 20 October 2026 00:47:14 GMT