Hello this is Demarkaus Torrence know as D.T. Im doing my story on Jesse Jackson.

Also known as: Jesse Louis Jackson, Jesse L. Jackson,Rev . Jesse Louis Jackson

Birth: october 8, 1941 in Greenville, South carolina, United States

Nationality: American

Ethnicity: African American

Occupation: civil rights leader,politician,minister (religion)

Source: Contemporary Black Biography, Volume 27.Edited by Ashyia Henderson. Gale Group,2001.

Early lift

Jackson was born jesse louis burns in Greenville, to Helen burns. helen burns was 16 - years old single mother when he was born. His father was biological. noah lovis was a former professional boxer and a prominent figure in black community, Was married to another woman when Jesse was born. He was not involved in his son's life. In 1943 , two years after Jesse's birth, his mother married Charles Henry Jackson, who would adopt Jesse 14 years later. Jesse went on to take the surname of his stepfather.

Education

He attended Sterling high school. In 1959, he rejectes a contract from a professional base ban team so that he could attend the facially integrated university of illinois on a foot ball scholarship.

Jackson attended Sterling High School, a segregated high school in Greenville, where he was a student-athlete. Upon graduating in 1959, he rejected a contract from a professional baseball team so that he could attend the racially integrated university of lllinois on a football scholarship. However, one year later, Jackson transferred to north carolina a&t located in greensboro, north carolina. There are differing accounts for the reasons behind this transfer. Jackson claims that the change was based on the school's racial biases which included his being unable to play as a quarterback despite being a star quarterback at his high school as well as being demoted by his speech professor as an alternate in a public speaking competition team despite the support of his teammates who elected him a place on the team for his superior abilities. ESPN.com reports a different story, however. Claims of racial discrimination on the football team may be exaggerated because Illinois's starting quarterback that year was an African American. In addition, Jackson left Illinois at the end of his second semester after being placed on academic probation. Following his graduation from A&T, Jackson attended the chicago theological seminary with the intent of becoming a minister, but dropped out in 1966 to focus full-time on the civil rights movement^] He was ordained in 1968, without a theological degree; awarded an honorary theological doctorate from Chicago in 1990; and received his Master of Divinity Degree based on his previous credits earned, plus his life experience and subsequent work, in 2000.

Family

Jackson married Jacqueline Lavinia Brown (born 1944) on, December 31, 1962, and they had five children: Santita (1963), jesse jr. (1965), Jonathan Luther (1966), Yusef DuBois (1970), and Jacqueline Lavinia (1975).In 2001, Jackson was shown to have had an affair with a staffer,karin stanford.that resulted in the birth of a daughter, Ashley, in May 1999. According to CNN, in August 1999, The Rainbow Push Coalition had paid Stanford $15,000 in moving expenses and $21,000 in payment for contracting work. A promised advance of an additional $40,000 against future contracting work was rescinded once the affair became public. This incident prompted Jackson to withdraw from activism for a short time. Separate from the 1999 Rainbow Coalition payments, Jackson pays $4,000 a month in child support.

Joined King and the sclc in 1965

Jackson joined Martin Luther King Jr. and his southern christian leadership conference (sclc) in 1965 during demonstrations in selma, pushing for expanded voting rights for blacks. When the SCLC launched the Chicago Freedom movement in 1966, Jackson was there to put his knowledge of the city and contacts within the black community to work for king.

Never far from controversy

Jackson has stirred both admiration and criticism. His behavior in the hours immediately following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., was a subject of controversy. Jackson claimed that he had held the dying leader, heard his last words, and had his shirt stained by King's blood. Other SCLC officers present at the murder have disputed those claims. As an organizer Jackson often overstepped his authority in SCLC matters and violated organization policy in a number of his chicago campaigns. His economic boycotts were criticized by some buinessman as extortion and by some reformers for lacking follow-through.

Civil rights activism

In 1965, he participated in the selma to montgomery marches organized by james bevel, Dr. martin luther king jr., and other civil rights leaders in Alabama. When Jackson returned from Selma, he threw himself into SCLC's effort to establish a beachhead of the southern christian leadership conference (SCLC) in Chicago.

In 1966, King and Bevel selected Jackson to be head of the SCLC’s operation breadbasket in Chicago, and SCLC promoted him to be the national director in 1967. Following the example of reverend leon sullivan of Philadelphia, a key goal of the new group was to foster “selective buying” (boycotts) as a means to pressure white businesses to hire blacks and purchase goods and services from black contractors. One of Sullivan's precursors was Dr. T.R.M. Howard, a wealthy South Side doctor and entrepreneur and key financial contributor to Operation Breadbasket. Before he moved to Chicago from Mississippi in 1956, Howard, as the head of the Regional Council of Negro Leadership, had successfully organized a boycott against service stations that refused to provide restrooms for blacks

When King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in memphis, tennessee, the day after his famous "I’ve been to the mountaintop" speech at the mason temple, Jackson was in the parking lot one floor below. Jackson's appearance on NBC's Today Show, wearing the same blood-stained turtleneck that he had worn the day before, drew criticism from several King aides; some King associates also dispute Jackson's description of his personal involvement and also of the sequence of events surrounding the assassination.

Jackson has been known for commanding public attention since he first started working for King in 1966. His primary goal for this attention has been to give blacks a sense of self-worth.

Beginning in 1968, Jackson increasingly clashed with ralph abernathy, King's successor as chairman of SCLC. In December, 1971, they had a complete falling out. Abernathy suspended Jackson for “administrative improprieties and repeated acts of violation of organizational policy.” Jackson resigned, called together his allies, and operation push was born during the same month. The new group was organized in the home of Dr. t.r.m. Howard who also became a member of the board of directors and chair of the finance committee.

In 1984, Jackson organized the rainbow colition, which later merged, in 1996, with Operation PUSH. The newly formed Rainbow PUSH organization brought his role as an important and effective organizer to the mainstream. Alsharpton also left the SCLC in protest to follow Jackson and formed the national youth movement.

In March 2006, an African-American woman accused three white members of the duke university men's lacrosse team of raping her. Jackson stated that his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition would pay for the rest her college tuition regardless of the outcome of the case. The case against the three men was later thrown out and the players were declared innocent by the North Carolina Attorney General.

Jackson took a key role in the scandal caused by comedic actor michael richards' racially charged comments in November 2006. Richards called Jackson a few days after the incident to apologize; Jackson accepted Richards' apology and met with him publicly as a means of resolving the situation. Jackson also joined black leaders in a call for the elimination of the "n-word" throughout the entertainment industry. 

10 facts on Jesse Jackson

1. Jackson has drawn upon his own early experience in Greenville.

2. In 1959 Jackson left the south to attend the university of lllinois on an athletic scholarship.

3. Jackson first became involved in the civil rights movement while a student at north carolina A&T.

4. In 1971 Jackson resigned from the SCLC to found his own organization,people United to save humanity (PUSH).

5. Jackson launched his first campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984.

6. In 1997 , Jackson shifted his focus from the nation's political to its financial capital.

7. In 1997 , Jackson shifted his focus from the nation's political capital to its financial capital.

8. Jackson's rainbow coaliton/PUSH launched its own investigation into johnson's death.

9. In 2000,Jackson, along with his son, congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr.,published it's about the money!:

10. Jackson has stirred both admiration and critcism. 

Timeline

 October 8, 1941

Jesse Louis Burns born.

1956

 Takes his stepfather's name. Becomes Jesse Louis Jackson.

Spring 1959

Graduates from Sterling High School in Greenville, South Carolina.

 Fall 1959-Spring 1960

Attends University of Illinois.

 Fall 1961

Transfers to North Carolina Agricultural & Technical College.

 December 31, 1962

Marries Jacqueline Lavinia Brown.

 March 1965

After watching 'Bloody Sunday' on television, Jackson is among thousands who head to Selma, Alabama. Meets Dr. King; asks him for a job.

 Spring 1966

Becomes head of Chicago chapter of SCLC's Operation Breadbasket. Launches first economic boycott.

 Summer 1966

Jackson among the leaders of King's open housing marches in Chicago.

 Summer of 1967

Becomes the national director of Operation Breadbasket.

 April 4, 1968

King assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee while there to support striking garbage workers.