In January 1934, Ida Louise Jackson became the 8th national president of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated®, making her the first elected national president from the Far Western Region. Before her election, she served as the first vice president.

Jackson served from 1934-1936 and is credited with many accomplishments during her tenure, including developing a creative service program. She issued an historic call for volunteers for the Mississippi Summer School for Rural Teachers program in January 1934. This program laid the groundwork for the now memorable and historic Mississippi Health Project, which was conceived to serve poor African Americans who were living in deplorable conditions in Mississippi. The project was so important to Jackson that she used her personal funds to get the project off the ground.

In December 1934, she garnered support and funding for the Mississippi Health Clinic and, in July 1935, launched the nation’s first Mobile Health Clinics, which came to be known as the Mississippi Health Project (MHP), in Mound Bayou, MS.

She also developed chapter evaluations, used to maintain the Sorority’s standards, and established an employment information exchange for the organization.

Jackson’s accomplishments were acknowledged beyond the African American community. She was the first African American woman to have a campus structure named in her honor at the University of California, Berkeley—the Ida Louise Jackson Graduate House. She is also one of the 39 illustrious UC Berkeley graduates asked to contribute to author Irving Stone’s book of alumni memories, There Was Light.

When she began teaching at Oakland High School in Oakland, CA, Jackson was the first African American woman to teach in California high schools. In 1983, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from Rust College.