Jackson was born to an unmarried woman. His birth father was her next-door neighbor, but he was married with children and had very little contact with Jesse. His mother married when he was still young, and he was adopted by his step-father in 1956.

Since 1963 he has been one of American's most important civil rights activists, working for Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Operation Breadbasket, Operation PUSH, PUSH/Excel, and The National Rainbow Coalition, the last three of which he himself founded. In 1968 he was ordained as a minister. He was instrumental in obtaining the release of American pilot Robert Goodman from Syria in 1983 and of the foreign hostages of Saddam Hussein in Kuwait in 1991.

He ran for president in 1984 and 1988.

References

Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
Frady, Marshall. Jesse: The Life and Pilgrimage of Jesse Jackson. (New York: Random House, 1996)
Jakoubek, Robert E., Sr. Jesse Jackson. (New York: Chelsea House, 1991) (Black Americans of Achievement)
"Jesse Jackson: Chronology." [Includes portraits]. Available at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/jesse/chronology.html
"The Pilgrimage of Jesse Jackson: Transcript." [Includes portraits]. Available at: http://www2.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/jesse/jessescript.html

Indexes

African
USA
Civil Rights, Advocacy
Government, Politics, Civil Service, Public Administration
Christian
School-age Years, Adolescence
Step-parents
Unmarried Mother