[2] His edited volumes include: Best American Poetry 2019, Renga for Obama, and Library of America's Countee Cullen: Collected Poems.

Major Jackson was born on September 9, 1968, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is the son of Levorn Gregory Spann and Gloria Ann Matthews.

His poetry has received critical attention in The Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, The New York Times, World Literature Today, Philadelphia Inquirer, and on National Public Radio's All Things Considered.

[4] While at Temple University, Jackson formed a relationship with Sonia Sanchez, his first creative-writing professor, who he claims is "responsible for his embrace of poetry".

[4] Other important role models include Garrett Hongo, Derek Walcott, Afaa Michael Weaver, Gwendolyn Brooks, Robert Hayden, Philip Levine and C. K.