Jesse Jackson: The Rainbow PUSH Years
The civil rights icon announced that he is stepping down as leader after more than 50 years at the helm, but he has left a lasting legacy.
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Under the direction of his mentor Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jesse Jackson became the national director of Operation Breadbasket, the economic arm of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He resigned from the organization in 1971.
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In 1971, Jackson founded Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity) in Chicago. The mission of PUSH was to achieve “economic empowerment and expanding educational, business and employment opportunities for the disadvantaged and people of color.”
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Jackson launched the National Rainbow Coalition in 1984. The organization was founded to fight for equal rights for African Americans, women, and the LGBTQ community. In 1996, Jackson merged Operation PUSH and the National Rainbow Coalition to form the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.
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Jackson ran for president in 1984 as a Democratic candidate placing third in the primary voting behind former Vice President Walter Mondale and Senator Gary Hart. Running again in 1988, he came in second behind Michael Dukakis, the party’s eventual nominee. He was the most Black candidate to run for office before the election of President Barack Obama.
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Following his relocation to Washington D.C., in 1989, Jackson was voted as one of the first US Shadow Senators to represent the District along Florence Pendleton in 1990. Created by Washington City Council to lobby the U.S. Congress for statehood for the District of Columbia, it was Jackson's first elected office.
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Jackson was appointed by President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright as “Special Envoy of the President and Secretary of State for the Promotion of Democracy in Africa” in October 1997. He traveled to several continents representing the interest of the US and negotiated the release of three soldiers who were held captive in Yugoslavia in 1999.
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A noted author, Jackson’s books include Straight from the Heart (1987; ed. by Roger D. Hatch and Frank E. Watkins) and Legal Lynching: Racism, Injustice, and the Death Penalty (1995).
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In 2000, Jackson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton, the highest honor given to civilians in the United States. Clinton lauded Jackson for his "powerful voice in the struggle for civil rights, economic opportunity, and social justice."
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