Jesse Jackson.

On July 16, 1960, at age 18, Jesse Jackson organized a sit-in at the Greenville Public Library with seven other young African Americans, becoming known as the Greenville Eight. He was born Jesse Louis Burns on October 8, 1941 in Greenville, South Carolina, to 16-year-old Helen Burns; his biological father was Noah Louis Robinson. After his mother married, he took the surname Jackson. He attended the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, then transferred to North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, and later studied at the Chicago Theological Seminary.

On April 4, 1968, Jesse Jackson was at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, among the last to see Martin Luther King Jr. alive before the assassination. He had been a close aide to King in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In 1971, he founded Operation PUSH People United to Save Humanity, later the Rainbow Push Coalition. He ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988, winning five state primaries and caucuses in 1988. As an actor and producer, Jackson appeared in The Burning 1981 and voiced Cocky Locky in Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child 1995. He produced the documentary S.O.S. – Saving Our Schools 2015.

Jesse Jackson married Jacqueline L. Jackson on December 31, 1962. The couple had two sons: Jonathan Jackson and Jesse Jackson Jr. He later admitted to fathering a daughter from an extramarital affair. A member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Jackson maintained close ties with Cuban leader Fidel Castro and spoke positively of him. He served as a celebrity witness at the Chicago Eight trial in 1969-1970.

Jesse Jackson’s presidential campaigns in 1984 and 1988 broke barriers for African American candidates, winning multiple state primaries. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Spingarn Medal, and the Commander of the Legion of Honour. Musician Kris Kristofferson recorded the song Jesse Jackson on his 1976 album Third World Warrior. Primal Scream’s version of Come Together sampled Jackson’s speech at the 1972 Wattstax festival. He is remembered as a tireless advocate for civil rights and social justice.