The Rev. Jesse Jackson addressed a group last week as they protested the scheduled execution of Kevin Cooper who was convicted of the 1983 slaying of four people.
Early years: Jesse Louis Jackson was born Oct. 8, 1941, in Greenville, S.C. He attended the University of Illinois in Chicago. He transferred to North Carolina A & T College in Greensboro. As student body president, he encouraged students to protest racial injustice by staging demonstrations and boycotts.
Career: In the mid-1960s, Jackson began working for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a civil rights organization founded by Martin Luther King Jr. In 1968, when King was assassinated, Jackson claimed he had held the dying leader in his arms. Others present said this was not true, but Jackson's appearance on national television with his bloodied shirt vaulted him into national prominence.
In 1971, Jackson was suspended from the SCLC for using the organization to further his personal agenda. He then founded Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity). His following grew and he used his appeal with voters during his unsuccessful 1984 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. In 1988, he ran again, coming in second.
Family: Jackson and his wife Jacqueline, have five children, including Jesse Jr., a Democratic congressman from Illinois. In 2001, he admitted fathering a child with a former Rainbow Coalition staff member.
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In his words: "People who are victimized may not be responsible for being down, but they must be responsible for getting up."
Web link: rainbowpush.org
Sources: Associated Press, biography.com
