Jackson will step down as president of Rainbow PUSH Coalition, a merger of two organizations he founded.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson’s work and activism spans decades, from joining the front lines of the civil rights movement to helping negotiate the release of U.S. prisoners abroad.
Rainbow PUSH Coalition announced Friday that Jackson will step down as president of the group, a merger of two organizations he founded and whose national headquarters is at 930 E. 50th.
The civil rights leader and two-time presidential candidate was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2017.
The announcement will come at the Rainbow PUSH annual national convention, where on Sunday Vice President Kamala Harris will deliver remarks to the civil rights organization.
Here’s just a few of many highlights from Jackson’s decades-long career in civil rights, social justice, politics and humanitarian work: 1941
Jesse Louis Burns is born on October 8, 1941 in Greenville, South Carolina. He takes the last name of his stepfather in 1957. 1959-60
Jackson attends the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He later transfers to North Carolina Agricultural & Technical College.1963
During the summer of 1963, Jackson becomes one of “Greenville Eight,” a group of Black students protesting at the whites-only public library in Greenville.
When they refuse to leave after being asked, the group is arrested for “disorderly conduct.” 1964
After graduating from North Carolina A&T, he enrolls in Chicago Theological Seminary, but leaves school before acquiring a degree.1965
Jackson goes to Selma, Alabama, to march with Rev.
