Billy Morrow Jackson was born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1926. He received his BA in Fine Arts at Washington University, St. Louis, focusing on watercolors, drawing, and printmaking. After receiving his MFA at University of Illinois in 1954, he began teaching at UI at Urbana-Champaing, his career spanning 30 years. After his retirement in the mid-1980's, he became a full-time painter, along with his artist wife, Siti Mariah-Jackson.

Jackson's work is shown in both public and corporate collections, including the National Collection of Art, Smithsonian Institution; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Boston Public Library, MA; Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY; and the Library of Congress, Wash., D.C. He is currently the president of Jackson Studios.