Jesse Jackson

Also known as Jesse Jackson, Sr., Reverend Jackson, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Jesse Louis Jackson Sr.

Jesse Louis Jackson Sr. was an American civil rights activist, LGBTQ rights activist, politician, and ordained Baptist minister. A protégé of Martin Luther King Jr. and James Bevel during the civil rights movement, he became one of the most prominent civil rights leaders of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, and an ardent advocate and early supporter of LGBTQ rights in the United States. From 1991 to 1997, he served as a shadow United States senator for the District of Columbia.

OverviewAI-generated

Jesse Louis Jackson Burns is an American politician, pastor, human rights defender, and founder. Born on October 8, 1941, in Greenville, he is a member of the Democratic Party. Jackson received his education at the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. He is a Baptist who speaks English and has played American football as a quarterback.

Jackson has authored thirty-one works, including *We the Resistance*, *The Theodore H. White Lecture with Reverend Jesse L. Jackson*, *Overcoming violence*, *FBI file on Rev. Jesse Jackson*, and *Legal lynching*. He has received the Spingarn Medal, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Commander of the Legion of Honour. His children are Jonathan Jackson and Jesse Jackson Jr. Jackson has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and COVID-19.

Synthesized by Vinony from 29 facts across 4 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, MusicBrainz, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

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Wikidata facts

Instance of: human
Given name: Louis
Family name: Burns
Gender: male
Citizenship: United States
Place of birth: Greenville
Place of death: Chicago
Educated at: North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University
Political party: Democratic Party (United States)
Languages spoken: English language
Religion: Baptists
Movement: civil rights movement
Sport: American football
Position played: quarterback
Country for sport: United States
Image: Jesse Jackson For President Crop.jpg

Show 11 more facts

Commons category: Jesse Jackson
date of birth: 1941-10-08
medical condition: COVID-19
writing language: English language
social media followers: 187203
name in native language: Jesse Jackson
member of: Rainbow/PUSH
birth name: Jesse Louis Burns
ethnic group: African Americans
date of death: 2026-02-17
place of burial: Oak Woods Cemetery

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Encyclopedic overview

Jesse Louis Jackson Sr. (né Burns; October 8, 1941 – February 17, 2026) was an American civil rights activist, LGBTQ rights activist, politician, and ordained Baptist minister. A protégé of Martin Luther King Jr. and James Bevel during the civil rights movement, he became one of the most prominent civil rights leaders of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, and an ardent advocate and early supporter of LGBTQ rights in the United States. From 1991 to 1997, he served as a shadow United States senator for the District of Columbia.

Born in Greenville, South Carolina, Jackson began his activism in the 1960s and founded the organizations that later merged to form the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. Expanding his work into international affairs in the 1980s, he became a vocal critic of the Reagan administration and launched a presidential campaign in 1984. Initially viewed as a fringe candidate, he finished third for the Democratic nomination behind former vice president Walter Mondale and Senator Gary Hart. He continued his activism and mounted a second presidential bid in 1988, finishing as the runner‑up for the Democratic nomination to Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Jesse Jackson” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.