Happy birthday to the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. The civil rights leader and founder of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition has spent the last 60 years of his life in front of cameras advocating for social justice.
“His legacy is a profound leadership that aided in moving America forward and aided in addressing the question of racism and discrimination,” said U.S. Rep Maxine Waters about Jackson’s legacy. “It was Jesse Jackson’s leadership, along with other greats that really created change, and the movement toward opening up America to all.”
Chicago civil rights legend Jesse Jackson turns 80 this week. Odds are he’s going to celebrate it by putting in work. Here’s a look back at his legacy. ？
As Jackson turns 80, his family, friends and colleagues say he will not slow down. Here’s a look at some of the highlights in Jackson’s life.
Oct. 8, 1941
Jesse Louis Burns is born in Greenville, South Carolina. (He would take the last name Jackson from his adoptive stepfather Charles Jackson in 1957.)
1959
Graduates from Sterling High School in Greenville, South Carolina.
Jesse Jackson as a child in an undated photo. (Family photo)
1959-60
Attends the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
July 16, 1960
Participates in a sit-in at the whites-only Greenville County Public Library as one of the Greenville Eight. When asked to leave, they stay, only to be arrested by police for disorderly conduct. The library becomes integrated as a result of public demonstrations by the Black community.
(The Greenville News, July 17, 1960)
1961
Transfers to North Carolina Agricultural & Technical College.
1962
Jackson marries Jacqueline Lavinia Brown on New Year’s Eve. The two will have five children together: Santita Jackson, Jesse L. Jackson Jr., Jonathan Luther Jackson, Yusef DuBois Jackson and Jacqueline Lavinia Jackson Jr.
Jacqueline Jackson picks up her husband from a police station in Chicago on Sept. 12, 1969. (Frank Berger / Chicago Tribune)
1963
Jackson continues protests, leading civil rights demonstrations in Greensboro, North Carolina. Arrests for protesting ensues and the acting president of North Carolina A&T threatens to expel students, like Jackson, who participate in the protests.
1964
Jackson, a quarterback for the college, graduates from North Carolina A&T and enters Chicago Theological Seminary, but leaves school before acquiring a degree.
1965
Jackson heads to Selma, Alabama, after watching violent protests on television. Meets the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Becomes a full-time organizer for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, or SCLC.
1966
Jackson becomes head of the Chicago chapter of the SCLC’s economic arm, Operation Breadbasket, a program promoting better employment for the Black community by combating discriminatory hiring practices. The same year Jackson would be one of the leaders of King’s open housing marches in Chicago.
Martin Luther King Jr., third from left, talks with Jesse Jackson, second from left, as they walk outside after a morning summit meeting at the St. James Episcopal Cathedral parish house at 666 N. Rush St. in Chicago on Aug. 17, 1966. (Al Phillips/Chicago Tribune)
Mahalia Jackson, far left, sings "We Shall Overcome" with civil rights leaders the Rev. Martin Luther King, third left, Jesse Jackson, second from right, and Albert Raby, right, on Aug. 4, 1966. The event happened at 844 W. 71st St. in Chicago. (Ray Foster / Chicago Tribune)
1967
Jackson becomes national director of Operation Breadbasket.
Operation Breadbasket ministers the Rev. Stroy Freeman, left, the Rev. Martin Luther King, second from right, and Jesse Jackson, right, huddle with Donald S. Perkins of Jewel Co. on April 28, 1967, "in an effort to build a stronger economic base for Negro people in Chicago community through the programs," reported the UPI. (UPI Telephoto)
1968
(Chicago Tribune, April 5, 1968)
King is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
Jackson and the SCLC gather on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., for the Poor People’s Campaign. The six-week, live-in demonstrations took place in a protest camp, called Resurrection City, on the Mall to confront poverty and economic inequality as a national human rights issue. Jackson was elected the “mayor” of the tent city. It is in Resurrection City that we hear Jackson’s “I Am Somebody” poem. A chant that will follow him throughout his civil rights career.
Jackson is ordained as a Baptist minister.
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., second from right, stands with other civil rights leaders on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 3, 1968, a day before he was assassinated at approximately the same place. From left are Hosea Williams, Jackson, King and Ralph Abernathy. (Associated Press)
1969
Jackson leads a “Black Monday” protest before an estimated 3,000 people at Chicago’s Daley Plaza on Sept. 22, 1969. The protesters then march in objection to discriminatory union hiring practices. Jackson recently recounted his remembrances from that day to The New York Times.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson address the crowd at a "Black Monday" demonstration near the Civic Center in Chicago on Sept. 22, 1969. More than 3,000 people attended the protest rally. The demonstration coincided with rallies being held in various cities across the nation protesting job discrimination. (Luigi Mendicino / Chicago Tribune)
Then Rev. Jesse Jackson, the the director of Operation Breadbasket, leaves jail after signing his own cognizance bond on Sept. 12, 1969, at the central police building in Chicago. Jackson was accompanied by Larry Patterson and Robert Weathers, who had been arrested and jailed with him. Jackson's wife, Jacqueline, is in the front. (Luigi Mendicino / Chicago Tribune)
1970
He helps negotiate the surrender of Johnnie Veal, one of two young men suspected in the sniper deaths of Chicago police officers Sgt. James Severin and Anthony Rizzato at Cabrini-Green public housing project.
Later, Veal and George Knights are convicted in the shooting deaths. Both are serving 100-to-199-year sentences.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, center, walks past Chicago police officers from the 18th District at Cabrini-Green on July 22, 1970. Two policemen were shot there the prior week. (Frank Hanes / Chicago Tribune)
From ‘war workers’ to ‘Good Times,’ Jane Byrne and demolition: Timeline of Cabrini-Green ？
Jackson proposes the elimination of voter registration and suggests people, instead, show their birth certificates to prove their age.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, center, registers 18 year-olds to vote at Wendell Phillips High School in Chicago on Sept. 12, 1972. (Frank Berger / Chicago Tribune)
1971
Jackson resigns from SCLC, founds Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity, later changed to “Serve” Humanity) at 47th Street and King Drive in Chicago. PUSH is about economic empowerment and expanding educational, business and employment opportunities for the disadvantaged and people of color.
Under Jackson, the first Black Expo is held at the International Amphitheater in Chicago. The five-day trade fair draws Black businesspersons from dozens of states fortifying Jackson’s assertion that economic development is the way to Black power.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson speaks at the kickoff for the Black Expo in 1971. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)
June 30, 1972
Jackson and Chicago Ald. William Singer unseat Richard J. Daley’s delegate slate at the Democratic convention in Miami.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson yells to the chairman to get attention about the demand for a 2/3rd vote while on the floor of the Democratic National Convention in Miami on July 11, 1972. Jackson was part of a group that managed to prevent a number of Illinois delegates controlled by Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley from being seated. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)
(Chicago Tribune, July 1, 1972)
1975
PUSH for Excellence Inc. (PUSH Excel) is founded by Jackson and educators to inspire students to strive for excellence in education.
Trying to get in to the Board of Education Building to meet with school Superintendent Joseph Hannon, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and followers clash with police barring them from the door near LaSalle Street and Wacker Drive on Dec. 15, 1975. Jackson and followers were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct after they refused to leave and a shoving match took place. (James OLeary / Chicago Tribune)
1977
David Duke, left, the grand wizard and national director of the Ku Klux Klan, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, right, during a taped discussion with Steve Edwards, center, the host of WLS-TV on Sept. 8, 1977, in Chicago. (George Quinn / Chicago Tribune)
1979
Jackson visits Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in the Middle East. Jackson also visits South Africa speaking out against apartheid.
1982
Jackson leads a group to boycott ChicagoFest, during the tenure of Mayor Jane Byrne. The protest of ChicagoFest, a predecessor of the Taste of Chicago, was carried out in anger over Byrne’s replacement of three black Chicago Housing Authority board members with three whites. This boycott turned out to be the first step in the successful campaign to elect Harold Washington, the city’s first black mayor, months later.
Jackson leads a national boycott of major U.S. corporations like Coca-Cola and Anheuser-Busch to sign economic covenants agreeing to PUSH’s demands for more blacks in management and ownership roles in those companies.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, left, and actor Mr. T protest ChicagoFest in August 1982. (Walter Kale / Chicago Tribune)
Nov. 3, 1983
The rally cry: “Run, Jesse, Run!” is popular; Jackson runs for the Democratic Party’s nomination for president of the United States at the Washington, D.C., Convention Center.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson with his wife, Jacqueline, at Operation PUSH headquarters. "We must, in my judgement, assume a new course, organize a new coalition under a new leadership." (Ovie Carter / Chicago Tribune)
1984
Jackson delivers his “Our Time Has Come” speech at the Democratic Party National Convention in San Francisco. Many commentators consider this speech his best performance. It was the first time a speech at a national convention mentioned the LGBTQ community.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson acknowledges the applause on July 28, 1984, as he makes his first PUSH appearance since addressing the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco. (Ovie Carter / Chicago Tribune)
Jackson secures the release of U.S. Navy pilot Lt. Robert Goodman from a Syrian prison after his plane was shot down in the Middle East. (Some called it a publicity stunt for his election campaign.)
Jackson also secures the release of 48 Cuban and Cuban American prisoners in Cuba and brings them back to the United States — most of the Americans released had been jailed on drug-trafficking charges.
Gov. Jim Thompson, left, and Mayor Harold Washington, right, share in presenting the Rev. Jesse Jackson with the Chicago Medal of Merit on Jan. 10, 1984, at a City Hall reception. Washington honored Jackson for securing the release of navy Lt. Robert Goodman from Syrian captivity. (Karen Engstrom / Chicago Tribune)
Jackson places third in Democratic primary voting behind Sen. Gary Hart and former U.S. Vice President Walter Mondale, who took the nomination. Jackson earned more than 3 million votes during the primaries.
Jackson also founds the National Rainbow Coalition, whose mission is to protect, defend and gain civil rights by leveling the economic and educational playing fields, and to promote peace and justice around the world.
1985
Jackson leads demonstration in London’s Trafalgar Square to protest apartheid in South Africa and call on the South African government to free Nelson Mandela.
1988
Jackson makes his second bid for the Democratic Party’s nomination for president. He wins the Michigan primary, but eventually loses to Massachusetts’ Michael Dukakis. (Both presidential bids would help lay the groundwork for Barack Obama’s presidential run.)
Jackson and 75 leaders convene in Chicago to discuss national Black agenda, wherein Jackson says Black Americans adopt to be called African American. The term “puts us in our proper historical context.”
The Rev. Jesse Jackson gives the thumbs up and yells out for people to vote as he leaves the polls at the Bryn Mawr Church at 7000 S. Jeffery in Chicago on Nov. 8, 1988. (Phil Greer / Chicago Tribune)
A quiet moment for Democratic presidential candidate the Rev. Jesse Jackson as he sits on the press bus after arriving at Midway Airport from Houston on March 9, 1988. The previous day, Jackson campaigned on Super Tuesday, had a late night at a campaign rally, he was up early for interviews and had an early morning press conference in Houston before leaving for Chicago. (Paul Gero / Chicago Tribune)
1989
Jackson is awarded the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal, the organization’s highest achievement for his ongoing political and civil rights work.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson plays basketball with residents during a visit to the Ida B. Wells housing project in Chicago on April 3, 1989. (Charles Osgood / Chicago Tribune)
The Rev. Jesse Jackson embraces one of the jail inmates as he greets them on his walk around the stands after holiday festivities on Dec. 25, 1989, in Chicago. (Chuck Berman / Chicago Tribune)
1990
Jackson elected to a six-year term as a shadow senator in Washington, D.C. The role is an elected one and the job is about lobbying members of Congress for D.C. statehood. Shadow senators have no standing in Congress, and the job is unpaid. (D.C. statehood would come up for a vote in 1993, but not reach fruition with, 153 yes votes to 277 no votes.)
1991
Jackson wins the release of foreign nationals being held in Kuwait after meeting with Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
Jackson is honored by the U.S. Postal Service with a pictorial envelope cancellation. He becomes only the second living person to receive this honor. The other is astronaut and U.S. Sen. John Glenn.
1995
Jackson gives a speech at the Million Man March in Washington, D.C.
Kent Dent, of Passaic, New Jersey, 28, along with other Black men react to the speech of the Rev. Jesse Jackson during the Million Man March in 1995. (Jerry Holt/Star Tribune/Star Tribune via Getty Images)
1996
Jackson returns to Operation PUSH and the Rainbow Coalition to merge the two to form the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.
1997
Jackson is appointed by President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright as the special envoy of the president and secretary of state for the promotion of democracy in Africa.
Jackson launches the Wall Street Project, a challenge to corporate America to end the multibillion-dollar trade deficit with minority vendors and consumers. The project works to ensure equal opportunity for diverse employees, entrepreneurs and consumers.
1998
Jackson acts as “spiritual adviser” to Bill Clinton in the aftermath of the president’s affair with Monica Lewinsky.
President Bill Clinton and the Rev. Jesse Jackson listen to Dennis Hastert on Nov. 5, 1999, in Chicago. Clinton visited the Englewood neighborhood. (Terry Harris/Chicago Tribune)
1999
Jackson goes to Yugoslavia during the Kosovo war to negotiate the release of three U.S. prisoners of war captured on the Macedonian border while part of a peacekeeping unit.
Jackson comes to the aid of the “Decatur 7″ — seven teens who, after a fight at a high school football game in Decatur, Illinois, were expelled for two years by the school board under a “zero tolerance” policy. The students who were expelled were Black. One student, Courtney Carson, was under the impression that he’d been given a 10-day suspension with other students involved in the brawl. When he returned to school on the 11th day, he was told of his two-year expulsion, arrested for trespassing and taken to the Macon County Jail. Jackson followed with busloads of protesters. Decatur’s public high schools were closed and a federal lawsuit was filed on the situation that became a public debate on race. Jackson stayed the course with the young men for almost two years. Eventually, then-Gov. George Ryan helped broker a compromise. The school district reduced the expulsions to a year for six of the teenagers and permitted them to enroll in alternative schools. Carson, a member of PUSH, would eventually serve on the Decatur Public Schools school board.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, center, holds onto one of the expelled students, Roosevelt Fuller, right, while marching on to Eisenhower High School property on Nov. 8, 1999, in Decatur, Illinois. (Seth Perlman/AP)
2000
Jackson receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom (the highest U.S. civilian honor) from President Bill Clinton.
Jackson is awarded a master of divinity degree from the Chicago Theological Seminary because his life experiences more than fulfill the requirements for his missing courses in pastoral care, preaching and international relations.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, founder and president of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, left, points out his family members to President Bill Clinton after Jackson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, during ceremonies on Aug. 9, 2000, at the White House in Washington, D.C. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)
2012
Jackson appeals to President Yahya Jammeh for the release of two Americans serving prison sentences for treason in Gambia.
The Jesse Jackson Sr. held the annual Operation PUSH conference in Chicago on July 11, 2012. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)
The Rev. Jesse Jackson hugs veterans as they participate in an anti-war march and rally on Cermak Road in Chicago on May 20, 2012, during the NATO 2012 Summit. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
2017
Jackson announces he has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
Dominique Jones weeps while being comforted by the Rev. Jesse Jackson at the start of the walk for peace down the streets of Englewood along with Cardinal Blase Cupich, elected officials and activists on April 14, 2017. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
2018
Jackson wins the lifetime achievement award from the National Urban League.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson gives a tour of memorabilia at Rainbow/PUSH headquarters in Chicago on March 6, 2018, after giving an interview about the assassination of his friend and colleague the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
2019
Jackson writes a letter to President Donald Trump asking for a full pardon of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. (His sentence was commuted in 2020.)
The Rev. Jesse Jackson gets in his vehicle after speaking on behalf of Bernard Kersh after Kersh bonded out of Cook County Jail in Chicago on Dec. 6, 2019. Kersh was charged with aggravated battery to a peace officer after allegedly spitting at a police officer, apparently prompting the officer to body slam Kersh to the ground. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
The Rev. Jesse Jackson greets inmates after leading a Christmas service in the Cook County Jail in Chicago on Dec. 25, 2019. (Camille Fine / Chicago Tribune)
2021
Jackson receives his first COVID-19 vaccine shot, then raises his fist in the air and appears to smile behind his protective face mask.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr, makes a fist after Dr. Kiran Chekka, right, of Roseland Community Hospital injected him with the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in the parking lot of Roseland Community Hospital on Jan. 8, 2021. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
Jackson and Rainbow/PUSH are called into a housing situation at Concordia Place Apartments in Chicago’s Eden Green neighborhood. Residents attest to pest infestation, mold and mildew in their units at the 297-unit apartment complex — privately owned but federally subsidized. Rainbow/PUSH Coalition civil rights group step into the conversation between residents and Capital Realty Group, the New York-based owners of the complex, the Chicago Housing Authority, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Chicago’s Department of Housing to rectify living concerns. “We’re a part of this process so people don’t feel alone,” Jesse Jackson said of PUSH’s involvement with Concordia. We’re trying to make this project a model for the country. We want the standards raised.”
Jackson receives Legion d’Honneur from French President Emmanuel Macron. The award is one of the country’s highest honors.
French President Emmanuel Macron escorts the Rev. Jesse Jackson to the Legion of Honor ceremony at the Elysee Palace in Paris on July 19, 2021. Jackson was given the rank of Commander of the National Order of the Legion of Honor, the highest of all French military and civilian honors. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
A month later, Jackson and his wife are hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19. Jackson is discharged from the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago after his hospitalization.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson jokes with his physician, Dr. Leslie Rydberg, right, and physical therapist Talia Shapiro, center, as he is released from therapy at the Shirley Ryan Abilitylab after recovering from COVID on Sept. 22, 2021. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
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Sources: Chicago Tribune archives and reporting
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