Larry Jackson Jr., the creator of The Black Visitor’s Guide to Kansas City, died June 10 from prostate cancer. He was 76.
According to the Kansas City Star, while Jackson was best known for creating the guide in the 1990s, he was a man of many talents and business ventures in Kansas City’s Black community.
Jackson’s marketing firm, Specialized Entertainment and Distribution Inc (SEDIC), created advertising campaigns for Budweiser and Sprint among others, but its most lasting contribution came when Jackson put his encyclopedic knowledge of Black-owned businesses in Kansas City in guidebook form.
Produced in conjunction with the Kansas City tourism department, the public could pick up the pamphlet from the Lincoln Building, which was a hub for Black culture in Kansas City, as well as the headquarters of SEDIC or newspaper stands around the city. The guide functioned as a blueprint for navigating the functionally segregated Kansas City community.
Damon Jackson, Jackson Jr.’s son, thinks his father was motivated by a desire to spotlight his friends in the Kansas City business community. “I think he just really meant to do something for the community,” said Jackson. “At the time, there wasn’t a list or a place where you can go and find Black businesses.”
The son of Jackson Jr.’s business partner, Lloyd Mason Jr., described Jackson as a “serial entrepreneur.” But business was not everything for him, as he was also involved in the Kansas City activist scene advocating for civil rights and marching alongside the former executive director of the Kansas City-based Martin Luther King Urban Center, the late Rev. Fuzzy Thompson. Jackson also tried writing television shows and once met the legendary comedian Redd Foxx as a result.
In his 50s, Jackson once again switched careers and became a substitute teacher, where he was instrumental in getting other substitutes retirement benefits. Many teachers and faculty members came to his June 24 funeral at Thatcher’s Funeral Chapel.
Kansas City was the only community that Jackson ever knew, according to Mason.
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