Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    Nostalgia Central
    • Home
    • Blog
      • Lists
    • Television
      • TV by Decade
        • TV – 1950s
        • TV – 1960s
        • TV – 1970s
        • TV – 1980s
        • TV – 1990s
      • Comedy
      • Drama
      • Kids TV
      • Variety
      • News & Sport
      • Advertisements
    • Music
      • Music by Decade
        • Music – 1950s
        • Music – 1960s
        • Music – 1970s
        • Music – 1980s
        • Music – 1990s
      • Artists – A to K
        • Artists – A
        • Artists – B
        • Artists – C
        • Artists – D
        • Artists – E
        • Artists – F
        • Artists – G
        • Artists – H
        • Artists – I
        • Artists – J
        • Artists – K
      • Artists – L to Z
        • Artists – L
        • Artists – M
        • Artists – N
        • Artists – O
        • Artists – P
        • Artists – Q
        • Artists – R
        • Artists – S
        • Artists – T
        • Artists – U
        • Artists – V
        • Artists – W
        • Artists – X
        • Artists – Y
        • Artists – Z
      • Artists – 0 to 9
      • Genres
      • Music on Film & TV
      • One-Hit Wonders
      • Playlists
      • Online Radio
    • Movies
      • Movies by Decade
        • Movies – 1950s
        • Movies – 1960s
        • Movies – 1970s
        • Movies – 1980s
        • Movies – 1990s
      • Movies – 0 to 9
      • Movies – A to K
        • Movies – A
        • Movies – B
        • Movies – C
        • Movies – D
        • Movies – E
        • Movies – F
        • Movies – G
        • Movies – H
        • Movies – I
        • Movies – J
        • Movies – K
      • Movies – L to Z
        • Movies – L
        • Movies – M
        • Movies – N
        • Movies – O
        • Movies – P
        • Movies – Q
        • Movies – R
        • Movies – S
        • Movies – T
        • Movies – U
        • Movies – V
        • Movies – W
        • Movies – X
        • Movies – Y
        • Movies – Z
    • Pop Culture
      • Fads
      • Toys & Games
      • Fashion
      • Decor
      • Food & Drink
      • People
      • Technology
      • Transport
    • Social History
      • 1950s Year by Year
      • 1960s Year by Year
      • 1970s Year by Year
      • 1980s Year by Year
      • 1990s Year by Year
      • Events
    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Pop Culture»People
    People 3 Mins Read

    Jesse Jackson

    Share
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email

    Jesse Jackson was born in 1941 in Greenville, South Carolina and started working in his grandfather’s woodyard when he was six years old. He attended local schools and graduated in 1959 from Sterling High School where he starred on the football, basketball and baseball teams.

    After high school, he attended the University of Illinois for a year and then returned to North Carolina to enter the Agricultural and Technical College in Greensboro, where he graduated with a BA degree in 1964. At A&T, Jackson was a football star and president of the student government.

    He entered the Chicago Theological Seminary in 1965 and was ordained a Baptist minister three years later, becoming involved in the Civil Rights Movement in 1965.

    Jackson served in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the national civil rights organisation led by Dr Martin Luther King, and participated in numerous marches and sit-ins. He was with Dr King in Selma.

    In 1966, Jackson was chosen by Dr King to establish a Chicago branch of Operation Breadbasket, the economic arm of the SCLC.

    Its objective was to improve the economic status of black people in their own community.

    When Dr King was murdered by an assassin’s bullet in 1968, Jackson was standing beside him.

    Jackson broke with the Reverend Ralph Abernathy, who assumed leadership of the SCLC after King’s death and founded Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity) in 1971. The Chicago-based organisation sought to build a strong economic base within the black community.

    In 1983, Jackson travelled to Syria to secure the release of a captured American pilot, Navy Lt. Robert Goodman (pictured with Jackson), who was being held by the Syrian government. Goodman had been shot down over Lebanon while on a mission to bomb Syrian positions in that country.

    After Jackson made a dramatic personal appeal to Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, Goodman was released. In June 1984 Jackson also negotiated the release of 22 Americans being held in Cuba after an invitation by Cuban president Fidel Castro.

    Jackson’s first try for a presidential nomination saw him come third in the Democratic primaries in 1984. In 1988, he lost again but significantly increased his popularity even with midwestern White voters – taking close to 7 million primary votes.

    On the eve of the 1991 Gulf War, Jackson made a trip to Iraq to plead with Saddam Hussein for the release of foreign nationals held there as a “human shield”, securing the release of several British and 20 American individuals.

    In April 1999, during the Kosovo War, he travelled to Belgrade to negotiate the release of three American POWs captured on the Macedonian border while patrolling with a UN peacekeeping unit. He met with then-Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević, who later agreed to release the three men.

    In November 2017, Jackson was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

    Related Posts

    • Ho Chi Minh
      Ho Chi Minh
      1 8 9 0 - 1 9 6 9 Ho Chi Minh was the adopted name of Nguyen Tat Thanh…
    • Neville Bonner
      Neville Bonner
      Neville Thomas Bonner was the first Aborigine to be elected to Australia's federal parliament. He lived in poverty in the…
    • Richard Nixon
      Richard Nixon
      1 9 1 3 - 1 9 9 4 Unless you were actually there, it's hard to imagine just how…
    • Allen Klein
      Allen Klein
      Allen Klein was born in Newark on 18 December 1931 and spent several years in an orphanage after his mother's…
    • Jackie O
      Jackie O
      Jackie Onassis was best known as the wife of US President John F Kennedy. Her youth and style brought an aura…
    • John F Kennedy
      John F Kennedy
      1 9 1 7 - 1 9 6 3 Born in 1917, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the second son of…
    • Harlem Globetrotters
      Harlem Globetrotters
      The exact beginnings of the Harlem Globetrotters are uncertain, although the team considers that their first-ever road game took place…
    • Dwight D (Ike) Eisenhower
      Dwight D (Ike) Eisenhower
      Dwight David Eisenhower was born on 14 October 1890, at Denison, Texas, the third of seven sons of David Jacob…

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticlePhase IV (1974)
    Next Article Wonders of Aladdin, The (1961)

    Comments are closed.

    Follow us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
    You May Also Like
    • Protest Movement
      Protests in the 1960s can be divided into two main categories; […]
    • Helloween
      During the 1980s, Helloween were the most successful heavy metal […]
    • Red Dawn (1984)
      After a quick rundown of politics in the film’s […]
    • Wycliffe
      1 9 9 4 – 1 9 9 8 (UK) 37 x 50 minute episodes Detective […]
    • Paradise Postponed
      1 9 8 6 (UK) 11 x 50 minute episodes It was hard to tell who the […]
    • Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The
      1 9 6 7 (UK) 10 x 20 minute episodes Initially intended as a […]
    Twitter Feed
    Please note


    Nostalgia Central covers the period 1950 to 1999 and contains some words and references which reflect the attitudes of those times and which may be considered culturally sensitive, offensive or inappropriate today.
    Popular Tags
    1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1975 1976 Action Figures Amicus Arcade games Australia Beach movies Beatles Blaxploitation Board games Britpop Canada Crime Disco Disney Doo-Wop Elvis Presley Girl groups Glam Goth Hammer Heavy Metal Irwin Allen Labels Merseybeat Mod revival Motown New Romantic New Wave NWOBHM Oi! One-hit wonders Power Pop Pub rock Punk Radio Scotland Ska Soul music Surf music
    Search Nostalgia Central
    Copyright © 1998, 2022 Nostalgia Central
    • About
    • Contact
    • FAQ

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.