While Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.’s birthday is Wednesday, October 8, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition will celebrate his 84th birthday on Saturday, October 4, during the weekly PUSH broadcast with the theme, “From Protest to Progress – Protecting Chicago and the World.”
Mayor Brandon Johnson is scheduled to speak at the 10 a.m. broadcast.
Rev. Jackson, diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2015 but not making it public until 2017, may be wheelchair-bound now, but his legacy and constant presence at civil rights gatherings continue to inspire hope during turbulent political times.
He began his civil rights career in 1959 at age 18 when, home in Greenville, South Carolina, from the University of Illinois for Christmas break, he sought books at the Negro library. When he couldn’t find them, he went to the downtown library, where he was told coloreds were not allowed.
Determined, Jackson vowed to return. On July 16, 1960, he did, organizing a group of students who became known as the “Greenville Eight.” His pastor, Rev. James S. Hall, had taught him to fight back and told him to go back to the downtown library and not leave. Jackson returned with seven others and, under orders from Hall, refused to leave, expecting arrest.
“In retrospect, we were brought up under crippling, racist policies,” Jackson told this reporter. “We were victims of racism; however, because we fought back and resisted, we have a different America today. Our standing up had an impact upon oppressed people around the world.”
Joining him that day were Dorris Wright, Hattie Smith Wright, Elaine Means, Willie Joe Wright, Benjamin Downs, Margaree Seawright Crosby, and Joan Mattison Daniel. The sit-in desegregated not only the downtown library but others as well.
Still, Jackson said years later that from 1960 to July 16, 2020, little had changed in his hometown. “There were no Black policemen, no Black firemen, no elected officials, and even the graveyard was segregated,” he said. “We were still living in our segregated bubble.”
In the fall of 1960, Jackson transferred to North Carolina A&T. In 1963 he was jailed for using a downtown restaurant. After joining several civil rights groups, he came to Chicago in 1964 and began working with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1965.
He also met the late Rev. Clay Evans, pastor of Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church and president of the Baptist Ministers Conference of Chicago and Vicinity, to build clergy support for civil rights. Working with ministers, Jackson began protesting economic exploitation faced by Blacks. On January 7, 1966, Dr. King and Al Raby introduced a strategy to end slums by attacking systemic exploitation that kept Blacks in fiscal bondage.
King brought the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s Operation Breadbasket to Chicago ministers, who picketed stores that refused to hire Blacks and sold outdated food. On November 18, 1966, Dr. King appointed Jackson director of Special Projects and Economic Development for SCLC.
From that point, Jackson soared in the civil rights arena. He ran for president twice, in 1984 and 1988, finishing third in the Democratic primary in 1988 with 3.5 million votes.
Jackson, who calls himself a long-distance runner, continues to teach his sons—Attorney Yusef Jackson, COO of Rainbow PUSH; Congressman Jonathan Jackson; and Jesse Jackson, Jr., who is running for his former Second Congressional seat—the ABCs of civil rights and the art of winning.
Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-7th), who celebrated his own 84th birthday on September 6, wished Jackson a happy birthday, noting he is 32 days older. “Long live Jesse Jackson, Sr.,” Davis said.
Davis recently announced he will retire after 28 years in Congress, having also served as an alderman and Cook County commissioner.