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Quick Facts
- NAME: Jesse Jackson
- OCCUPATION: Civil Rights Activist, Minister, Journalist
- BIRTH DATE: October 08, 1941 (Age: 71)
- EDUCATION: University of Illinois, Chicago Theological Seminary, Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina (now the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University)
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Greenville, South Carolina
- Originally: Jesse Louis Burns
- AKA: Jesse Jackson
- ZODIAC SIGN: Libra
Best Known For
Jesse Jackson is an American civil rights leader, Baptist minister and politician who twice ran for U.S. president.
Videos see all videos
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Political Activism in Harlem (2:14)
Jesse Jackson - 1984 Presidential Campaign
A'lelia Bundles, a former producer for NBC News, talks about covering Jesse Jackson's 1984 campaign and his populist message to voters that they could make a difference.
Jesse Jackson - Mini Biography
Jesse Jackson saw the injustice of segregation and worked for Dr. Martin Luther King. Jackson fought for equal rights through his organizations, Operation PUSH and the Rainbow Coalition, and in 1984 and 1988, he ran for President.
Political Activism in Harlem
Dr. Khalil Gibran Muhammad, the Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, discusses famous figures who contributed to the history of political activism in Harlem.
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Play NowJesse Jackson. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 02:36, Jun 19, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/jesse-jackson-9351181.
Jesse Jackson. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/jesse-jackson-9351181 [Accessed 19 Jun 2013].
"Jesse Jackson." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Jun 19 2013, 02:36 http://www.biography.com/people/jesse-jackson-9351181.
"Jesse Jackson," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/jesse-jackson-9351181 [accessed Jun 19, 2013].
"Jesse Jackson," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/jesse-jackson-9351181 (accessed Jun 19, 2013).
Jesse Jackson [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 Jun 19] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/jesse-jackson-9351181.
Jesse Jackson, http://www.biography.com/people/jesse-jackson-9351181 (last visited Jun 19, 2013).
Jesse Jackson. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/jesse-jackson-9351181. Accessed Jun 19, 2013.
But Jackson has been dogged by continued controversies. In 2001 it was revealed he had fathered a child out of wedlock. Seven years later, during then Senator Barack Obama's campaign for the U.S. presidency, a firestorm erupted after he accused Obama of "talking down to black people." He later apologized for the remarks.
Still,
there's no denying Jackson's impact on American politics and civil rights. In 2000 President Clinton awarded Jackson the Presidential Medal of Freedom. That same year he received a Master of Divinity degree from the Chicago Theological Seminary.
A noted author, his books include Straight from the Heart (1987) and Legal Lynching: Racism, Injustice, and the Death Penalty (1995).
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