Posted on April 24, 2022

Bruce Jackson changed the game as one of the first Black entrepreneurs in the nation to own and operate a uniform rental business in a white dominated industry.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — In 1978, Bruce Jackson took a job working in the uniform industry with a wealthy Jewish inventor named Herman Miller.

Miller taught Jackson the ins and outs of an industry that some argued a Black man had no business being a part of.

Decades later, Jackson now owns the company and continues to serve the Jacksonville community as The Uniform Man.

"The American dream is ownership and ownership of anything is key,” Malcom, Jackson’s son said. “So having your name in a business right now is important.”

Malcolm grew up watching his father work tirelessly to please his customers, knowing one day he would take the reins. Though it hasn’t been easy trying to gethis dad to step aside.

“Malcolm and them they told me to take Wednesday off,” Jackson said. “I took Wednesday off and ain't nobody home but me and my little dog and he can't talk. That didn't work for me. I gotta be where the action at. That's what drives me. Herman Miller taught me- he said Bruce don't ever stop working.”

"Mr. Herman is my Jewish granddad,” Malcom said. “We take a lot of pride in him and a lot of life lessons I learned from him as well."

Once inside of Jackson’s office it’s easy to understand the reverence his family has for Miller. Looking around it feels as if nothing has changed in at least three decades.

“I call this an office but people who know me say this is not an office this is a museum.”

There's a sense of time suspension in the space filled with old photos and articles.

“This is his desk- grandchildren picture still here,” Jackson said pointing to two old desks and chairs set up right next to one another. “This is how me and this man was situated for 30 something years. This man been dead ten years. If you came to our office this was the set-up. This is how we were set up. Him in this desk and me over here. If he came back from the grave here goes his desk waiting for him right here.”

Among the articles plastered on his office wall is one dated July 11 to July 17, 1994. It shows a picture of Jackson shaking hands with Winn-Dixie’s Jacksonville Division President Bill Calkins after Jackson signed a hefty contract with the grocery store worth $200,000.

“This is what the Chamber says- I was the first Afro-American to own a uniform rental company,” Jackson said. “Uniform rental industry is a tight-knit industry, white male dominated.”

Miller shook up the industry by teaching a street smart, quick thinking LaVilla native the details that matter.

“He said I don't have what it takes to pay you but if you stick with me you'll own this one day,” Jackson said. “He said I'm going to teach you something that they're not going to like. He taught me the industry."

Those lessons have now been sewn into generations of change.

“Some of the greatest words my dad ever said is you need food to eat, water to drink and a uniform to work in so we'll never go out of business,” Malcolm said.

Alterations, laundry service, embroidery, rentals and logos, The Uniform Man does it all. He says its old school, backbreaking, hard work and at 70 years young, Jackson can't see himself ever retiring from this industry which he loves.

Original Post: https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/entertainment/television/programs/gmj/the-uniform-man-one-of-the-first-black-entrepreneurs-in-jacksonville/77-7dcf9d3d-a28a-48b1-ad91-883483c18a5b

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