Rev.
Jesse Jackson
Founder and President
RainbowPUSH Coalition, Inc.
 The
Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr., Founder and President of the Rainbow/PUSH
Coalition, is one of America’s foremost civil rights, religious
and political figures. Over the past forty years he has played a pivotal
role in virtually every movement for empowerment, peace, civil rights,
gender equality, and economic and social justice.
Reverend Jackson has been called the "Conscience of the Nation" and "the
Great Unifier," challenging America to be inclusive and to establish just
and human priorities for the benefit of all. He is known for bringing people
together in common ground across lines of race, culture, class, gender and belief.
Born on October 8, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina, Jesse Jackson graduated
from the public schools in Greenville, then enrolled in the University of Illinois
on a football scholarship. He later transferred to North Carolina A&T State
University, and graduated in 1964. He began his theological studies at the Chicago
Theological Seminary, but deferred his studies when he began working full-time
in the Civil Rights Movement. Reverend Jackson received his earned Master of
Divinity Degree in 2000.
Reverend Jesse Jackson began his activism as a student in the summer
of 1960 seeking to desegregate the local public library in Greenville,
and then as a leader in the sit-in movement. In 1965 he became a full-time
organizer for the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). He was soon appointed by
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to direct SCLC’s
Operation Breadbasket program. In December of 1971, Reverend Jackson
founded Operation PUSH
(People United to Serve Humanity) in Chicago, IL. The goals of
Operation PUSH were economic empowerment and expanding educational,
business and employment opportunities for the disadvantaged and people
of color. In 1984, Reverend Jackson founded the National
Rainbow Coalition, a national social justice organization, based
in Washington, D.C, devoted to political empowerment, education and
changing public policy. In September of 1996, the Rainbow Coalition
and Operation PUSH merged in the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition to continue
the work of both approaches and to maximize resources. Long before
national health care, a war on drugs, direct peace negotiations between
Palestinians and Israelis, ending apartheid in South Africa and advancing
democracy in Haiti became accepted public policy positions, Reverend
Jesse Jackson advocated them. Reverend Jackson’s advocacy on these
and other issues helped bring the American public to a new level of
consciousness. Reverend Jackson’s two presidential campaigns broke
new ground in U.S. politics. His 1984 campaign registered over one
million new voters, won 3.5 million votes, and helped the Democratic
Party regain control of the Senate in 1986. His 1988, campaign registered
over two million new voters, won seven million votes, and helped boost
hundreds of state and local elected officials into office. Additionally,
this civil rights leader won an historic victory, coming in first or
second in 46 out of 54 primary contests. His clear progressive agenda
and his ability to build an unprecedented coalition inspired millions
to join the political process.
Though Reverend Jesse Jackson has not run for national political office
since 1988, he has continued to promote voter registration and lead
get-out-the-vote campaigns, believing that everyone should be encouraged
to be a responsible, informed and active voter. He has spearheaded
major organizing tours through Appalachia, Mississippi, California
and Georgia. He has continued to be a leading advocate for a variety
of public policy issues, including universal health care, equal administration
of justice in all communities, sufficient funding for enforcement of
civil rights laws, and for increased attention to business investment
in under-served domestic communities (a theme that the Clinton administration
picked up as the "New Markets Initiative"). Reverend Jackson
also supports a broad range of policies to improve education, eliminate
poverty, and remind everyone that we are a "One-Big-Tent-America," with
room for all, and none left in the margins. As a highly respected and
trusted world leader, Reverend Jackson has acted many times as an international
diplomat in sensitive situations. For example, in 1984 Reverend Jackson
secured the release of captured Navy Lieutenant Robert Goodman from
Syria, and the release of 48 Cuban and Cuban-American prisoners in
Cuba. He was the first American to bring hostages out of Kuwait and
Iraq in 1990. In 1999 Reverend Jackson negotiated the release of U.S.
soldiers held hostage in Kosovo. He has traveled extensively in the
Middle East and Asia, and was a special guest of President Fernando
Cardoso of Brazil in honoring Zumbi, the leader of slave revolts that
led to the end of slavery in Brazil.
A hallmark of Reverend Jackson’s work has been his commitment to youth.
He has visited thousands of high schools, colleges, universities and correctional
facilities encouraging excellence, inspiring hope and challenging young people
to study diligently and stay drug-free.
Reverend Jackson has also been a consistent and vigorous supporter of the labor
movement in the U.S. and around the world. Reverend Jackson is known as someone
who has walked more picket lines and spoken at more labor rallies than any other
national leader. He has worked with unions to organize workers, to protect workers’ rights,
and to mediate labor disputes. In 1996, he traveled to Asia to investigate treatment
of workers in the Japanese automobile industry and in athletic apparel factories
in Indonesia.
A renowned orator and activist, Reverend Jackson has received numerous
honors for his work in human and civil rights and for nonviolent social
change. In 1991, the U.S. Post Office put his likeness on a pictorial
postal cancellation, only the second living person to receive such
an honor. He has been on the Gallup List of the Ten Most Respected
Americans for more than a dozen years. He has received the prestigious
NAACP Spingarn Award, in addition to honors from hundreds of grassroots,
civic and community organizations from coast to coast. Reverend Jackson
has received more than 40 honorary doctorate degrees, and frequently
lectures at major colleges and universities including Howard, Yale,
Princeton, Morehouse, Harvard, Columbia, Stanford and Hampton. The
most prestigious honor yet came on August 9, 2000, when President Bill
Clinton awarded Reverend Jackson and other distinguished notables the
Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.
The Presidential Medal typifies a life of service and a concern for
the least fortunate.
From 1992 to 2000, Reverend Jackson hosted "Both Sides With Jesse Jackson" on
CNN (Cable News Network). He continues to write a weekly column of analysis which
is syndicated by the Chicago Tribune/Los Angles Times. He is the author of two
books: Keep Hope Alive (South End Press, 1989), and Straight From the Heart (Fortress
Press, 1987). In 1996, Reverend Jackson co-authored the books Legal Lynching:
Racism, Injustice, and the Death Penalty (Marlowe & Company, 1996) and It’s
About The Money (Random House, 1999) with his son, U.S. Representative Jesse
L. Jackson, Jr.
In October 1997, Reverend Jackson was appointed by President Bill Clinton and
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright as "Special Envoy of the President
and Secretary of State for the Promotion of Democracy in Africa." In this
official position Reverend Jackson traveled to several countries on the African
continent and met with such national leaders as, President Nelson Mandela of
the Republic of South Africa, His Excellency Daniel T. Arap Moi of Kenya, and
President Frederick J.T. Chiluba of Zambia.
Reverend Jackson married his college sweetheart Jacqueline Lavinia Brown in 1963.
They have five children: Santita Jackson, Congressman Jesse L. Jackson, Jr.,
Jonathan Luther Jackson, Yusef DuBois Jackson, Esq., and Jacqueline Lavinia Jackson,
Jr.
Revised October 2001
|
|
