Virginia Jackson Khia

Virginia Jackson was born on June 3, 1911 to two powerful civil rights leaders: Keiffer Albert Jackson (originally from Mississippi) and Dr. Lillian Carroll Jackson (from Baltimore). Her mother was known as “Ma Jackson” in honor of her matriarchal, 30-year leadership of Baltimore’s National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) branch.

Growing up in Baltimore, Kiah and her younger sister Juanita worked alongside their parents at voter registration drives and other organization activities. (Juanita ended up becoming the first black woman in Maryland to practice law.)

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During a time when many black folks discouraged their children from studying art, Virginia’s passion for painting and drawing was encouraged at home. And after graduating high school, she studied at the Philadelphia Museum School of Art where she became the first black student to win the school’s top award in life drawing. Her work also went on to be shown at the US Capitol.

She earned more honors and awards, as well as her master’s degree in 1950 at the Teachers College at Columbia University in New York (which is prestigious to this day).

In 1950, Virginia married Calvin Lycurgus Kiah (hence her name change) and moved to Savannah, where her husband was as a professor and department chair at Savannah State College. She taught at Beach High School until 1963, before retiring from education to work as a portrait artist. She painted many important leaders in the Black communities.

She established Savannah’s Kiah Museum in 1959 at her house at 505 W. 36th St in Cuyler Brownsville and was actively involved in art circles and civil rights efforts in Savannah until she died in 2001 at the age of 90.

(In case you wanna take her an offering, she’s buried at Hillcrest Abbey East on Wheaton Street.)

Note: the Panhandle Slim painting on the house is a quote by Virginia Khia that reads “I loved art, but I couldn’t go to a museum because my skin was black. I told my mother that someday I’d like to have a museum everybody could go to.” -Virginia Jackson Khia | In 1959 she created that museum here at 505 W. 36th Street. The Khia Museum.

She wanted her house to provide educational opportunities to economically disadvantaged youth after she died. Instead, it’s boarded up due to neglect and deterioration 😧.

SCAD (where she was a member on the board of trustees) named one of their buildings after her: Kiah Hall at 227 MLK Blvd.

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Happy birthday, queen 👑