Black Joe Jackson was born in 1920 near Atlanta, Georgia, to a sharecropper's family. He was named for baseball player "Shoeless Joe" Jackson and nicknamed by his friends "Black" because he was considered too dark to sing in his church choir. As an older teenager he played in a black barehand baseball league. He served in WWII and when he was recovering from being wounded he discovered he could paint. He worked at odd jobs until he took up painting again after he retired. His paintings are of every day events, usually with his subjects depicted in bright colors. The backgrounds are soft, almost dreamlike. His pieces are also easily identified by his bold titles and large signature.
Source: Self-Taught, Outsider and Folk Art, A Guide to American Artists, Locations and Resources.
