Happy Birthday Jesse Jackson

“Never look down on anybody unless you're helping him up” - Jesse Jackson

(Jesse Jackson)

Jesse Jackson was born as Jesse Burns on October 8th, 1941 in Greenville, South Carolina, USA. When he was 1 his name was changed to “Jesse Jackson”.

(Jackson as a kid)

In high school he was elected class president. In 1959 he graduated high school. He attended the University of Illinois.

(Jackson in 1959)

He then transferred North Carolina A&T. He was elected student body president. In 1962 he married Jacqueline Brown. In 1964 he graduated with a B.S. in sociology. In 1965 he participated in the Selma to Montgomery march. Dr. King gave Jackson a role in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). In 1966 he dropped out of college to go be apart of the civil rights movement full time.

(Jackson (Right) and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Left))

Also in 1966 Jackson ran the Chicago branch of the SCLC. In 1967 he was the director of the SCLC. In 1968 he was ordained a minister. Jackson was present when Dr. King was assassinated.

(Jackson (Middle Left) and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Middle Right))

In 1971 he organized the Black Expo in Chicago, IL. Also in 1971 he organized People United to Save Humanity (PUSH).

(Jackson (Left) and Flip Wilson (Right))

In 1978 he called for a closer relationship between blacks and the Republican Party. In 1983 Jackson traveled to Syria to secure the release of a captured American pilot.

(Jackson in 1983)

In 1984 he organized the Rainbow Coalition. He then ran for president of the U.S.A. becoming the 2nd Black person to run for president. Also in 1984 he was invited to the White House. He was also invited to Cuba to negotiate with the release of 22 hostages.

(Jackson in 1984)

In 1987 PUSH conducted boycotts of business to induce them to provide more jobs and business to blacks. Also in 1987 he became a Master Mason. In 1988 he ran for president again.

(Jackson in 1988)

In 1991 he made a trip to Iraq to plead to Saddam Hussein for the release of foreign nationals. Also in 1991 he became the Shadow Senator of Washington, D.C.

(Jackson (Left) and Quincy Jones (Right))

In 1996 PUSH and the Rainbow Coalition merged. In 1997 he traveled to Kenya and met with Daniel Arap Moi. In 1999 he traveled to Belgrade to negotiate the release of three U.S. POWs.

(Jackson in 1999)

In 2000 he was awarded his Master of Divinity Degree. In 2002 he was targeted by a White supremacist terror plot. In 2003 he spoke in front of over an estimated 1 million people in Hyde Park, London for an anti Iraq war demonstration.

(Jackson in 2003)

In 2005 he went to Venezuela and met the president Hugo Chavez. In 2007 Jackson was arrested in connection with a protest at a gun store in Riverdale. In 2008 Jackson supported Barack Obama for president.

(Jackson in 2008)

In 2012 Jackson supported Barack Obama in his 2nd term for president.

(Jackson in 2012)

Today he turns 75 years old and we would all like to say happy birthday Jesse Jackson.

Videos of Jesse Jackson

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTB1h18bHlY  “Sesame Street - I Am Somebody”
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTrVXU9Wonw  “Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr. "Is America Hospitable to the Negro?"”
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPCLPg-qYfg  “Rev Jesse Jackson at the 1984 Democratic National Convention”
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyR_dGpYXXA  “Jesse Jackson Speech to 1988 Democratic National Convention”
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gxig9RMGGQ  “March 27 2005 in the Michael Jackson Trial ( Jesse Jackson and MJ)”
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGtByr1MpGM  “Jesse Jackson Get Emotional As Obama Wins Presidential Election [NEW]”
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJaSNXRupM8  “Jesse Jackson "I AM SOMEBODY" 2012”

(P.S. sorry for the late post)