Jesse Jackson was a U. S civil rights leader.
He became a part of the movement as a college student and was influenced by Martin Luther King. He was born on October 8, 1941 in Greensville, South Carolina by Helen Burns and father Noah Robinson. His parents split when he was about two years old and his mother remarried a man named Charles Jackson. When Jesse was in high school he was very athletic and a good student.He was the quarterback of his schools team, although he was really good there was competition with Dickie Dietz a quarterback from a white high school. Even though Jesse was better than him, Dickie would always be in the newspapers.
When Jesse got a scholarship for football to the University of Illinois him and his whole family was proud. He was not excepted to be treated so poorly when he was on the team, so after his first year he transferred to North Carolina state university in 1960.A couple years later he married Jacqueline Davis and they had five children together. Jackson began working for the SCLC in Selma, Alabama pushing for expanded voting rights for blacks.
He organized local ministers to support the movement and marched through all-white neighborhoods to make neighborhoods less segregated. In 1971 Jesse wanted to start his own organization PUSH (People United to Save Humanity).With PUSH Jesse continued to pursuit the expanding areas of social and political growth for blacks in Chicago and across the world. Jackson decided to campaign in the 1984 presidential election as a Democrat.
He campaigned focused on social programs for the poor and disabled, reduced taxes for the poor, increased voting rights, improve the job opportunities of women and the poor , and improved civil rights. He received 3. 5 million votes but his campaign was unsuccessful but he was still seen as a hero to many blacks.
