Landmark, Get Set...Go!

About the Book

            In “Landmark, Get Set, Go!” Roderick gives a true and up-close account of his experiences as an embattled coach enduring a lengthy legal battle to give the Ensley High girls’ basketball team the equal application of the law they deserve. This book depicts the highs and lows of the Title IX case born in the rich civil rights setting of Alabama.

            After years of losing at every level in the courts, Roderick, with the help of the National Women’s Law Center and O’Melveny & Myers appealed to the U.S. Supreme court in 2003.  In March 2005, he won a landmark decision and the case became exemplary and raised awareness about continued gender discrimination across the country.

About the Author

            Roderick Jackson has been a teacher, coach and public speaker in some capacity for twenty years and counting.  He is well sought after on the speaking circuits from California to New Jersey and from Massachusetts to Louisiana.

            After years of losing at every level in the courts, Coach Jackson, with the help of the National Women’s Law Center and O’Melveny & Myers, appealed to the U. S. Supreme Court in May 2003.  In March 2005, he won a landmark decision (a 5-4 ruling) that allowed school personnel to speak up on behalf of their students without the fear of retaliation.  The case became exemplary and raised awareness about continued gender discrimination across the country.

            Today the coach lives with wife Joni, a native of Bessemer, Alabama (home of Bo Jackson, former football and baseball pro), daughter LaBritney, and son Nicholas in his hometown Birmingham.  He is still fighting the remnants of retaliation as he strives to improve conditions not only for his girls in the Ensley and Jackson-Olin areas, but throughout the Birmingham metropolitan region.

            Based on calls he receives weekly, he is still sought after for advice on how to level the playing field around the country.  The former Ensley High School (home of Buffalo Bills and Atlanta Falcon football player Cornelius Bennett) was closed down by the Birmingham School Board in May 2006.