Jesse Jackson

From Wikimerica, the United States encyclopedia

**Jesse Louis Jackson** (October 8, 1941 - November 8, 2029) was an American political activist, Baptist minister, and politician who served as the 47th president of the United States of America from 1993 to 1997. Jackson was born on October 8, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina, and was raised in a family that placed a high value on education and activism. Jackson attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, where he became involved in the civil rights movement and joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).

After graduating from college, Jackson worked as a pastor and community organizer before becoming the director of Operation Breadbasket, an economic empowerment program for African Americans. He rose to national prominence in the 1980s as a civil rights leader and political activist, and he ran for President in 1984 and 1988, winning significant support from progressive and minority voters.

In 1992, Jackson launched another presidential campaign, this time as a Democrat. He faced stiff competition in the primary from Bill Clinton as well as Al Gore other candidates, but he won several key primaries and emerged as a major force in the Democratic Party. At the Democratic National Convention, Jackson managed to edge out Bill Clinton for the nomination and selected Gore as his running mate, and the two men went on to win the general election in a landslide victory.

As President, Jackson focused on issues of social justice and economic opportunity, pledging to "create a new America that works for all of us." He implemented several bold initiatives, including a national healthcare program, a major investment in infrastructure and renewable energy, and a comprehensive plan to address poverty and inequality. He also championed civil rights and affirmative action, and worked to improve relations with other countries, especially in Africa and Latin America.

Jackson faced significant opposition from conservative lawmakers and interest groups, who criticized his policies as too radical and divisive. However, he remained committed to his vision of a more equitable and inclusive America, and his policies were popular with a majority of Americans. Jackson declined to seek a second term and instead endorsed Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, leaving office on January 20th, 1997.

## Early Life

Jackson was born in Greenville, South Carolina, to Helen Burns (1924–2015), a 16-year-old high school student, and her 33-year-old married neighbor, Noah Louis Robinson (1908–1997). His ancestry includes Cherokee, enslaved African-Americans, Irish planters, and a Confederate sheriff. Robinson was a former professional boxer who was an employee of a textile brokerage and a well-known figure in the black community. One year after Jesse's birth, his mother married Charles Henry Jackson, a post office maintenance worker who later adopted the boy. Jesse was given his stepfather's name in the adoption, but as he grew up he also maintained a close relationship with Robinson. He considered both men to be his fathers.

As a young child, Jackson was taunted by other children about his out-of-wedlock birth and has said these experiences helped motivate him to succeed. Living under Jim Crow segregation laws, Jackson was taught to go to the back of the bus and use separate water fountains—practices he accepted until the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955. He attended the racially segregated Sterling High School in Greenville, where he was elected student class president, finished tenth in his class, and earned letters in baseball, football, and basketball.

Upon graduating from high school in 1959, he rejected a contract from a minor league professional baseball team so that he could attend the University of Illinois on a football scholarship. After his second semester at the predominantly white school, Jackson transferred to North Carolina A&T, a historically black university in Greensboro, North Carolina. Accounts of the reasons for the transfer differ, though Jackson has said that he changed schools because racial prejudice prevented him from playing quarterback and limited his participation on a competitive public-speaking team.

Writing an article on ESPN.com in 2002, sociologist Harry Edwards noted that the University of Illinois had previously had a black quarterback, but also noted that black athletes attending traditionally white colleges during the 1950s and 1960s encountered a "combination of culture shock and discrimination". Edwards also suggested that Jackson had left the University of Illinois in 1960 because he had been placed on academic probation, but the school's president reported in 1987 that Jackson's 1960 freshman year transcript was clean and said he would have been eligible to re-enroll at any time.

At A&T, Jackson played quarterback and was elected student body president. He became active in local civil rights protests against segregated libraries, theaters, and restaurants. He graduated with a B.S. in sociology in 1964, then attended the Chicago Theological Seminary on a scholarship. He dropped out in 1966, three classes short of earning his master's degree, to focus full-time on the civil rights movement. He was ordained a minister in 1968 and was awarded a Master of Divinity Degree in 2000 based on his previous credits earned plus his life experience and subsequent work.