Candace Jefferson
Digital Files 5.5 GB
A2017-006
1890-1945 (unknown)
The family history starts with Thomas James Meek of Hazelhurst, Mississippi. He was born to a woman once held as a slave and the slave owner, Thomas Meek in 1900. James Meek grew up in Mississippi and married a black woman by the name of Susie Keyes. At that time he changed his name to Thomas James Jefferson, the family legend was that the family had ties related to Thomas Jefferson through Sally Hemmings.
One of his sons, James Jefferson was a fireman for Henry M. Flagler’s railroad. Another son, Dr. Thomas Leroy Jefferson attended and graduated from Meharry Medical School in Nashville. He later relocated to West Palm Beach and practiced medicine until his death at age 72. James Jefferson who worked as a fireman for the railroad had a son, William H. Jefferson. They lived in Hazelhurst, Mississippi on 375 acres.
In 1918 William attended Jackson College in Jackson Mississippi. A friend of his became interested in working at as train brakemen, a new position opened for black workers. William tried for a position in Texas and his friend said he would try for a position in Memphis. William arrived in Kingsville, Texas in 1919 and began working as a call boy, later he became a brakeman for the Missouri Pacific Railroad. William Jefferson became a member of the Colored Trainmen of America Union. Eventually he became General Chairman of the union. Jefferson was active in the black community of Kingsville; he was a member of the Masonic Lodge, went to church regularly and worked to improve the black schools in town. His youngest daughter and child, Candace Jefferson, attended Texas A&I University, studied anthropology, and began work as a medical secretary at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.
Candace Jefferson had a desire to travel internationally. In 1987 she worked as a hospital assistant at King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for seven years traveling to Egypt and Yeoman on her time off to work on archeological sites as a volunteer for Harvard University. On December 2, 1992 she was arrested with a female friend in Riyadh by the Religious Police for riding in a car driven by a male driver, not a relative. Imprisoned in a woman's facility for a short time, Jefferson had to battle a confusing and terrifying court system to obtain a pardon from the King of Saudi Arabia. She returned to the states in 1994 after the pardon was given.
Candace Jefferson returned to South Texas and worked as a Human Resources Coordinator for Christus Spohn Hospital in Corpus Christi. In 2000, Candace Jefferson was offered and accepted a position as Office Management Specialist for the Department of State at the U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv in Israel. She was responsible for Embassy access and to support Secretary of State Colin Powell and Vice President Dick Cheney's visits to Jerusalem. In 2003, she accepted the position of Administrative Support Assistant for the Department of State assigned to The White House-National Security Council in Washington, DC. She worked for Condoleezza Rice covering all office responsibilities in directorates throughout the National Security Council including National Security Advisor's office and the President's National Security Advisor for Iraq. In 2004 Candace Jefferson returned once again to South Texas to be close to family and friends.
South Texas Archives, James C. Jernigan Library, Texas A&M University-Kingsville
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Candace Jefferson Collection, A2017-006.XXXX- South Texas Archives, James C. Jernigan Library, Texas A&M University-Kingsville
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A2017-006 – Gift of Candace Jefferson
In 2017 the collection A2017-006 was processed and finding aid created by Lori Atkins, Daniel Thacker created the EAD document and uploaded all records to the South Texas Archives website.