Jesse B. Jackson

Jesse Benjamin Jackson (November 19, 1871 – December 4, 1947) was a United States consul and an important eyewitness to the Armenian genocide. He served as consul in Aleppo when the city was the junction of many important deportation routes. Jackson concluded that the policies towards the Armenians were “without doubt a carefully planned scheme to thoroughly extinguish the Armenian race.” He considered the “wartime anti-Armenian measures” to be a “gigantic plundering scheme as well as a final blow to extinguish the race.” By September 15, 1915, Jackson estimated that a million Armenians had been killed and deemed his own survival a “miracle”. After the Armenian Genocide, Jackson led a relief effort and was credited with saving the lives of “thousands of Armenians.”

After serving as consul in Aleppo, Jackson served in Italy and Canada. He was awarded numerous medals, including the Order of Merit of Lebanon. He died on December 4, 1947, at the age of 76.