Jesse Jackson

Background

Jesse Louis Jackson is an American politician, Baptist minister, and political activist whose success has earned him recognition. He’s a Libra, born on October 8, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina. His parents are Helen Burns and Noah Louis Robinson. A year after Jackson’s birth, his mother married Charles Henry Jackson, who adopted him. He attended Sterling High School, segregated, and was the class president. He graduated in 1959 and participated at the predominantly-white University of Illinois on a football scholarship. After two semesters, he transferred to North Carolina A&T, where he played quarterback and was active in local civil rights protests against segregated libraries, theaters, and restaurants. During this time, he was among the Greenville Eight and got arrested for using a white library. In 1964, Jackson graduated with a B.S. in sociology and enrolled at Chicago Theological Seminary. He dropped out in 1966.

Jackson worked with Dr. Martin Luther King, who gave him a role in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (S.C.L.C.). In 1966, Dr. King chose Jackson to lead the Chicago branch of S.C.L.C.’s economic arm, Operation Breadbasket. And in 1968, Jackson was ordained as a minister by the Church. After Dr. King’s death and Jackson’s fallout with the S.C.L.C., he formed Operation PUSH (People United To Serve Humanity) in 1971. Jackson designed Operation PUSH as a platform to pressure politicians to improve economic opportunities for blacks and people of other races. In 1984, he formed the Rainbow Coalition and resigned as president of Operation PUSH to run for the Presidency. Jackson was more than an American politician. By constantly securing the release of American citizens in war-torn foreign countries, he solidified his international relevance as an activist. In 1988, Jackson campaigned for the Presidency again under the Democratic party. In 1991, he ran for office as a shadow senator for the District of Columbia and served until 1997.

Jackson supported the Obama administration and his son’s political ambitions in his later political years. As a political figure, Jackson’s personal affairs were public information. He married Jacqueline Brown in December 1962, and they have five children. Jackson has six children altogether. He shares his life with family and friends.