When we lose pillars of the civil rights movement, like Reverend Jesse Jackson, we lose a living connection to our history. Rev. Jackson’s advocacy and activism extend back to his work with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., campaigning for civil rights in the American South, organizing voter-registration drives, and speaking up for economic-justice in long-suffering, marginalized communities still marked by the lingering effects of slavery and Jim Crow.  

One lesson to take from the life of Reverend Jesse Jackson is that history is closer than we often realize. In his 84 years, he was on the front lines to fight against lynching, poll taxes at the voting booth, and poverty caused by social inequity. He lived to see milestones like the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968 passed, and see the first president of color elected in 2008. But he was also present at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, when Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated on April 4, 1968.

In 1971, Rev. Jackson established the Rainbow Push Coalition as a merger of two organizations. He continued to be among the most prominent civil rights leaders speaking out on police brutality, domestic issues like LGBTQ+ rights, and international issues like apartheid, and mounted two presidential campaigns in 1984 and 1988, encouraging civic education and responsibility.

Long before Rev. Jackson became one of the most recognizable voices of the civil rights era, he knew that words mattered, that language mattered, and that history mattered. He knew that staying silent in the face of oppression and inequality was not an option. He was able to address racism, discrimination, and manmade social problems head-on. And he had the integrity to speak up with a powerful voice when he saw a wrong in the world to make things better for the next generation. The changes his stalwart activism leaves in his wake have impacted generations of Americans for the better.

Reverend Jesse Jackson epitomized Fred Korematsu’s words, “stand up for what is right and don’t be afraid to speak up.”