Jesse Jackson

Jesse Jackson
United States Shadow Senator from the District of Columbia
In office January 3, 1991 – January 3, 1997
Preceded by	Seat established
Succeeded by	Paul Strauss
Personal details
Born	Jesse Louis Burns June 8, 1941 (1941-06-08) Greenville, South Carolina, U.S.
Political party	Democratic Party
Spouse(s)	Jacqueline Brown (1962–present)
Children	Santita Jesse Jonathan Yusef DuBois Jacqueline Lavinia Ashley Laverne (with Karin Stanford)
Alma mater	University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University Chicago Theological Seminary
Religion	Baptist

Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. (born October 8, 1941) is an American church minister, activist and politician. Jackson was born Jesse Louis Burns, in Greenville, South Carolina. His mother, Helen Burns, was 16 years old at the time he was born. She never married his father, Noah Louis Robinson. When Jackson was two, his mother married Charles Jackson. Jesse was raised by his grandmother Matilda until he was 13. In 1957, he returned home when his step-father adopted him.

After he graduated from high school, Jackson had an offer to play professional baseball from the Chicago White Sox. He also received a scholarship to play college football at the University of Illinois, which he accepted. He later transferred to North Carolina A&T. He was one of Martin Luther King Jr.'s main organizers in Chicago for the Southern Christian Leadership Conferences. After King was shot, Jackson formed several civil rights organizations of his own. Two of these were Operation PUSH and the Rainbow Coalition. Jackson was also active in civil rights movements outside the United States. He also served as a Baptist minister.

Jackson ran for President in 1984 and 1988, coming in second in the 1988 Democratic party. Both times, he ran on a very liberal platform that wanted people of all races to co-operate, as well as more emphasis on education, urban issues and infrastructure. He wanted to be chosen as the Democrat's Vice-Presidential nominee, but Lloyd Bentsen was chosen instead. From 1991 to 1997 he was a senator from the District of Columbia, even though the District of Columbia is not a state.^[source?] People thought Jackson might run against Bill Clinton in the 1996 primaries, but he did not. He is known for saying many things that are controversial.^[source?] Some things he said were offensive to Jews.^[source?] He also said that Barack Obama was not black enough.^[source?]

Jackson's eldest son, Jesse Jackson, Jr., is a former congressman from Illinois.