Nefertitti Jackson
Six Square

Nefertitti Jackmon is the executive Director for Six Square and has worked for more than 20 years to build the cultural capacity of African American communities and organizations. Nefertitti was born in Fresno, California but moved to Houston in 1995. She began her career working for various non-profits and started searching for opportunities outside of Houston. She then landed a dream opportunity with Six Square in Austin. As the executive director of Six Square, she works to preserve and celebrate the historic legacy of the African American community that lived and thrived in Central East Austin. They accomplish this by offering tours of the district so that visitors can learn of the history of the people, places and stories that have contributed to the cultural diversity of Austin. They also produce events and exhibits that celebrate the various genres of African American culture: visual arts, music, food, spoken word and much more. She loves engaging in work that she’s most passionate about. Her background in African American studies was the tool that helped her finally decide what type of nonprofit organization she desired to work with.

“I firmly believe that as people learn their roots and dig deeper into understanding where they came from, they have a greater capacity to stand tall, to have pride, to love themselves and to find purpose and meaning in their lives. That is what I’m here to do, and the story of Black Austin, is the story of Black America. To help unearth that powerful story of resilience is a powerful honor that I will never consider work. I have been energized by Austin and the great opportunities that exist to show the world how we can learn from our past mistakes and build better futures for our children. The systems responsible for creating the area that we now refer to as Six Square, must be completely, and permanently destroyed. There are intelligent, passionate people in Austin who are leading the conversations and the actions needed to create better futures, and my hope is more equitable opportunities for all citizens. That’s what’s most inspiring about Austin.”

Photographed at Downs Field.