Jesse Jackson
(1941-)

African-American Civil Rights Leader
2000 Presidential Medal of Freedom

birthdate: October 8
birthplace: Greenville, South Carolina

Bio | Quotes | Links | HeroPix | ColorMe Pix | Free Tshirt Design

Jesse Louis Jackson is an African-American civil rights leader and Baptist minister.
He worked with Martin Luther King, Jr. and was with him the day he was assassinated. In 1971 he founded Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity) and in 1984 started the Rainbow Coalition as important vehicles for working social justice, civil rights and political activism. Jesse Jackson was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988. In the 1980s Jesse Jackson began to become an important international voice for a better world, meeting with many world leaders to promote democracy and freedom and helping to mediate international disputes. He helped secure the release of an American pilot captured in Syria in 1983 and then 22 Americans held in Cuba in 1984, and three US prisoners-of-war during the Kosovo War in 1999. In a 2006 AP-AOL poll Jesse Jackson was voted "the most important black leader." Jesse Jackson continues to be a leading voice for nonviolence, racial and economic justice and equal rights for all. He has received numerous awards for his dedication to a better world including America's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.