[1] Ruth Jackson was born on a farm near Scranton, Iowa and moved to Dallas, Texas at age 14.
[1][3] Upon completing high school, Jackson told her parents she was planning to take premedical instruction at the University of Texas at Austin, but her father disapproved so she became a sociology major.
[2] She changed her major to premedicine before graduating in 1924 when she learned a father was unable to support his family because of a bad knee.
[2][3] In 1950, she was appointed to the Advisory Committee for Services to Crippled Children by Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins.
[5][6] In 1983, the Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society, a support and networking group for female orthopedic surgeons, was founded in Rosemont, Illinois and was named for her.