It is always a sad day in history when we celebrate the life of someone through their demise. Today marks the celebration of Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Born Jesse Louis Burns on October 8, 1941, in Greenville, SC. His mother was Helen Burns and father, Noah Louis Robinson (unmarried to one another). One year post Jesse’s birth, Helen would wed Charles Henry Jackson, who would consume responsibility of Jesse through adopting him and changing his surname to Jackson.
Even though he continued communicating with his birth father throughout the years, he was still bullied by other children in school for being born out-of-wedlock. It’s been recorded that he has said those experiences helped shape his upbringing to succeed in life. All the while surviving under a Jim Crow segregated south. He attended a racist segregated Sterling High School. While there he served as president of his class and played football, baseball, and basketball.
Jesse Jackson (top left) posing with other students making up The Greenville 8, Library Photo.
Jackson graduated with the class of 1959. Post H.S. he would attend the University of Illinois on a football scholarship.
Jesse Jackson (middle), quarterback for North Carolina A&T. Class of 1964. (Photo courtesy of NC A&T)
Jesse Jackson (center) posing with members of the Student Government Association, North Carolina A&T, circa 1964
Jackson graduated in 1964 earning a B.S. degree in sociology. This is where his story continues to grow greater through being involved.
Two years later he would leave the Chicago Theological Seminary only three courses shy of earning his master\’s degree and forfeiting his scholarship, to place his full-time focus on the civil rights movement. However, in \’68, he was then ordained a minister and awarded a Master of Divinity degree by Chicago Theological Seminary in 2000. This occurring due to credits earned prior and through his work and life\’s path.
Mahalia Jackson, left, sings “We Shall Overcome” with civil rights leaders the Rev. Martin Luther King, third left, Jesse Jackson, second from right, and Albert Raby, right, on Aug. 4, 1966. The event happened at 844 W. 71st St. in Chicago.
Jesse Jackson (far left) MLK Jr (2nd from left) posing beside two unknown black leaders. Photo by Joe Jordan Collection, Greenville County Historical Society.
Jesse Jackson (left), Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr (Right) April 1968
A Young (27 yo) Rev. Jesse Jackson Rallies for Jobs. 9/22/1969
Jackson surrounded by marchers carrying signs advocating support for the Hawkins-Humphrey Bill for full employment, January 1975
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, left, and actor Mr. T protest Chicago Fest in August 1982.
In 1985, Jackson joined many prominent civil rights leaders to re-enact the historic march from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery. Here, they cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, where in March 1965 the marchers were beaten by police in what came to be known as “Bloody Sunday.”
Rev. Jesse Jackson, once president and Founded Operation PUSH in 1971 of the PUSH Coalition.
Rev. Jesse Jackson ran for POTUS in 1984 and 1988. He became the first Black American to launch a nationwide presidential bid and played a significant role in the Democratic primaries during both campaigns.
Joel Ewanick with General Motors, (left) and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (right) with Rev. Jesse Jackson (center), who held his annual Operation/PUSH Coalition conference in Chicago on July 11, 2012. (Photo courtesy of Getty Images)
On this day, February 17, 2026, in the warm comfort of his loved ones, Rev. Jesse Jackson transfers beyond this realm and into another.
