10 GROUNDCOVER NEWS LEGACY MARCH 6, 2026 Rev. Jesse Jackson, iconic civil rights activist, founder of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, has passed on On Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026, the nation woke up to hear that Reverend Jesse Jackson had died during the early morning hours. He was born on October 8, 1941, in the town of Greenville, South Carolina. He was 84 years old when he passed on. His name at birth was Jesse Louis Burns. Jackson’s mother was an 18-year-old high school student and his father was a 33-year-old neighbor who was married at the time. The father’s name was Noah Louis Robinson. Historians say that a year later after his birth, Jesse’s mom got married to a man named Charles Henry Jackson. He was a post office maintenance worker with a stable job and income. He later adopted Jesse who took his surname and became known as Jesse Jackson. Historians and some biographers said that Reverend Jackson maintained close relationships with his real dad and his stepdad. He did refer to them as his fathers. Jackson attended racially segregated schools in South Carolina and his family and community lived under the Jim Crow segregation system. He attended the all-black segregated high school in Greenville called Sterling High School. He excelled in academics and sports. He stood out as a good baseball player, basketball player and football player. In 1960, he was recruited to attend The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on a football scholarship. He stayed for two semesters and later transferred to the predominantly Black North Carolina A&T University at Greenboro. After his graduation, he travelled to Chicago Theological Seminary to get his Master’s degree. In 1965, Rev. Jackson left the Seminary to join Rev./Dr. Martin Luther King and his Southern Christian Leadership Conference members to make the long march from Selma to Montgomery. Dr. King saw his potential for community organizing and mobilization, and wanted Rev. Jackson to run “Operation Breadbasket" in Chicago the following year (1966), which he did. Jackson was a highly energetic civil rights activist. Because of his youthful outlook and shared cultural perspectives, Dr. King and SCLC relied on Jackson to inspire and motivate younger Americans to join the non-violent civil rights movement. In large crowds at a music event or a large Baptist Church congregation, Jackson could be heard shouting in an octane voice, “I am, I am, Somebody!!!” In many events, he might play the role of a preacherman and say, “It gets tough sometimes, it WILL SHAKESPEARE Groundcover vendor No. 258 gets dark sometimes, but hold on, hold out, until the morning comes. There will always be joy in the morning!!!” He was able to give an eloquent speech befitting a theatrical performance. Jackson joined Dr. King during his mass protest on behalf of Memphis sanitation workers who faced unfair labor practices such as wage exploitation and poor working conditions. On the afternoon of April 4, 1968, Dr. King was shot at the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. Rev. Jackson said he was at the first floor parking lot when Dr. King was shot. After King’s assasination, there was a leadership vacuum within the Black American population. There were several contests between Jackson and Dr. King’s successors at the SCLC. The majority of young Black people such as Rev. Al Sharpton of Brooklyn, New York, wanted Rev. Jackson to be the consensus leader of the Black community during the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and beyond. The political ambitions and diplomacy of Rev. Jesse Jackson Dr. King had confided to a few of his civil rights lieutenants that he admired Rev. Jesse Jackson’s courage, youth leadership, sense of community and fearlessness. However, he was a little concerned about Jackson’s ambition. Eventually, King trusted Jackson enough to explain away any concerns. King was a voracious reader and a reflective practitioner. It is likely he was familiar with author Joseph Conrad’s quote from his book “A Personal Record” which was published in 1912. Conrad said, “All ambitions are lawful, except those that trample upon the miseries and credulities of mankind.” Jackson made an ambitious decision to run for the presidency of the United States in 1984. His presidential campaign was nation-wide, unlike the presidential campaign of former congresswoman Shirley Chisolm of New York City. Jackson’s 1984 presidential bid was not successful. However, he Jesse Jackson pictured left of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Memphis Lorraine Motel on the day of King's assassination. was known as a trailblazer. He ran again in 1988 to become the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party. He came close to winning the nomination, but eventually he lost to former Massachusetts Governor, Michael Dukakis. Historians and many members of the legacy mass media considered Jackson’s presidential bid a historic national experience. That was the first time a Black person was taken seriously as a presidential candidate. Jackson applied his political strategy of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition — basically, that various people of color should work for change together — in every state in the Union. He won eight states, including Michigan. He was able to change the Democratic presidential rules on awarding delegates during the primary and caucus elections. In the past, the rule was that whoever comes in on top, takes all the delegates. Jackson’s petition had the rules changed to proportional awards of delegates based on percentages. Many political analysts have said that change of democratic rules made it possible for Barack Obama’s bid for democratic presidential nomination in 2007 and 2008 and, eventually, the Presidency. During the January 2009 presidential inauguration for Obama, Jackson said, “The hands that used to pick cotton, are now picking the president of the United States.” In the world of diplomacy, Jackson traveled to various corners of the - globe, trying to help resolve global conflicts. He was a “Special Envoy” for President Bill Clinton. He secured the release of Americans who were held hostage in Bosnia, Syria and other regions of the world. He was right there in South Africa the day that Nelson Mandela was released from prison after spending 27 years in Robben Island detention center. Jackson was instrumental in the choice of names that Black Americans called themselves in the 1980s and beyond. American leaders such as Dr. King would refer to Black people as “Negroes.” Younger generations such as Jesse Jackson and Singer/Performer James Brown preferred “Black Americans.” Jackson would address a large crowd with the slogan, “I am, I am, somebody; I am, I am, somebody.” James Brown could be heard in concert venues, yelling, “Say it loud, I’m Black and I’m proud; Say it loud, I’m Black and I’m proud.” Jackson talked to several Black historians, including former University of Michigan historian and political scientist Dr. Ali Mazrui, about using a name change to link Black Americans to their ancestral home in Africa. Dr. Mazrui had finished the “Lord Reith Lectures” at BBC/Oxford University and wrote the book titled, “The Africans: A Triple Heritage.” In the book, Mazrui argued that Irish Americans, Italian Americans, Greek Americans and other ethnic communities take pride in their ancestral origins. Unfortunately, the mass media portray a more negative image of Africa as backward, poor and desolate. In fact the mass media would say, “Forget that you are Africans, remember that you are Blacks.” Jackson and some Black intellectuals worked with the Organization of African Unity (OAU) to promote the more enduring and historic name, “African-Americans.” One member of OAU provided a 747 jumbo jet to Jackson and his crew to travel to various countries in Africa to announce the name change and the solidarity with the African people. On his way back to the United States. he stopped by London where he received joyous appreciation for his diplomatic leadership. see JACKSON next page In the 1960s some Black
11 Publizr Home