Talent Growth

When the family moved to Chicago, Betty grew in faith and her music always reflected this. She earned
her B.A. in piano and master’s degree in composition from the Chicago Musical College of Roosevelt University. Her thesis for her master’s, the opera, “Saul of Tarsus,” was an expression of her faith. She developed this abiding faith from her father, the Reverend Frederick D. Jackson, who was always a staunch supporter and wrote the libretto for each of her three religious operas.

Betty and her sister, Catherine Jackson Adams, often heard Negro spirituals being sung at a Southern Christian Institute near Vicksburg, Mississippi, where her mother, Gertrude Jackson Taylor, taught music. These spirituals so influenced Betty that much of her music repertoire in later life included arrangements of these spirituals.

Shared Talent

Betty shared her talents with young people. Firstly, she shared her talents as a teacher in the Chicago public school system and the Laboratory School, University of Chicago, The Pre-Professional Choral Ensemble, and later, as a professor at Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana. She also served as a mentor to many youth desirous of pursuing a musical career.