Tito Jackson

Tito Jackson (born April 11, 1975) is an American politician who was a member of the Boston City Council. He represented council District 7, representing parts of the Roxbury neighborhood and parts of Dorchester, South End, and Fenway. In 2017, he ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of Boston. After leaving the Boston City Council, Jackson worked in the cannabis industry. In 2022, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu appointed Jackson to the city's Commission on Black Men and Boys. Jackson is considered to be a political progressive. Early life, family, and education Jackson was born to a young teenager who had been sexually assaulted. He was adopted by Rosa and Herb Jackson after months in foster care, and grew up in Roxbury’s Grove Hall neighborhood. His father was a community activist and his mother ran a home day care. In his activism, Jackson's father supported the election of political candidates of color through voter registration campaigns and applied pressure to construction companies in the city to employ more local workers and minorities. Jackson's father died in 2002. Jackson has credited his adoptive parents' progressive politics for shaping his own progressive politics. Jackson attended Brookline High School and later graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. At university, Jackson founded a "Black Student Union" group which urged the university to work to diversify the makeup of its student body. Jackson was also elected the student body president. His alma mater granted him an additional honorary degree in 2018.