Francis Yvonne Jackson (Yvonne) was born in British Guiana, South America, (now named Guyana). Her formal education began at Tutorial High School and Carnegie School of Home Economics in 1959. After a short stint of teaching Home Economics in Dartmouth Essequibo Coast and Clonbrook East Coast Demerara, Yvonne migrated to the United States in 1963. She obtained a diploma in Secretarial Science from Cortez Peters Business College, Chicago, Illinois. Subsequently, she attended Woodrow Wilson Junior College.
Armed with a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Mundelein College in 1975 and graduate courses in Human Services Administration from Spertus College in 2000, Yvonne has developed a keen interest in community service whereby she has utilized her academic training for advocacy and community service.
September 2005, Yvonne and other community civic leaders testified before the liquor commission in Chicago, asking the commission not to grant a liquor license to the corner store owner in her precinct. The liquor license was not granted. November 2003, Yvonne and other Guyanese and Friends of Guyana in Chicago, drafted a letter with appended signatures and sent it to the United Nations seeking intervention into Human Rights Abuse of its citizens’ in her homeland. December 2005, she mobilized several of her compatriots in Chicago and formed a partnership with Troopers of Charity organization in Mocha Village, East Bank Demerara, to render flood relief assistance to the residents in the Village.
To her credit, she has received several community service awards to name a few: City of Chicago Community Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS), Guyana Medical Relief, Los Angeles, California, Guyanese of Illinois Away From Home, Chicago, Illinois, Medal of Honor, Guyana Community Council, Brooklyn, New York; Recognition Certificate from the People of the State of Illinois, Springfield, Illinois.
Yvonne was inspired to write Come Walk With Me: From Guyana to North America, a book of verses based on lingering memories of her childhood growing up in British Guiana. Her journey is a triangular composite of three different worlds in verse. The creative language used in this body of work is free style, formal, and Creolese. It brings the reader back and forth from one rhythm to another.
Her journey to the motherland has not been completed; but she is aware of the brutish treatment her ancestors encountered along the middle passage to the new world and in the new world.
Coming to the United States of America required developmental ideas and numerous adjustments which Yvonne has accomplished. She draws strength from both of her cultural experiences, appreciated the parental discipline she acquired from her parents, and savored the unity that existed among her siblings.