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Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. to preach at The Chicago Temple on Dr. King’s 88th birthday

Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. will preach at The Chicago Temple, 77 West Washington, 11 a.m., Sunday, January 15, 2017, on the actual day of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s 88th birthday to share how on that day Dr. King worked on the Poor People’s Campaign.

January 15th is Dr. King’s birthday but to Rev. Jackson, who was an aide to King, it is a “holy day” and one that should be remembered for King’s work on poverty issues rather than having a birthday celebration.

In the spirit of the Civil Rights movement, Dr. King spent his last birthday working on economic justice issues—eradicating poverty in America.

It was January 15, 1968 when Dr. King met with his staff including a young Rev. Jackson in Atlanta planning the Poor People’s Campaign just four months before he was assassinated on April 4, 1968 while standing on the Memphis Lorraine Motel balcony.

King had hoped that the Poor People’s Campaign would ignite fire in the bellies of officials and others and create a groundswell of support in stomping out poverty, but unfortunately his life ended on April 4, 1968 in Memphis where he joined black striking sanitation works seeking economic justice–higher pay, union recognition and improved working conditions—another poverty issue and one that cost him his life.

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