The Will of a People: A Critical Anthology of Great African American Speeches

Jesse Louis Jackson

372 Jesse Louis Jackson Speech to the Democratic National Convention (The Rainbow Coalition) Few modern speakers compare in the power of their eloquence with the Reverend Jesse Jackson. After the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jesse Jackson’s community organizing and public speaking propelled him to the forefront of the public’s consciousness. Whether involved with a domestic civil rights issue or travelling internationally, his rhetorical presence cannot be ignored. Arguably, the strong, credible campaigns he conducted for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 paved the way for Barack Obama’s nomination and election in 2008. His 1984 speech to the Democratic National Convention was especially compelling, providing him with a large, national audience, most of whom had never heard him deliver a speech in its entirety. Although Jesse Jackson was already a household name, the speech catapulted him to a level of political importance never before experienced by an African American. Jesse Louis Burns was born on October 8, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina , to Helen Burns, then still a student in high school. Jesse’s father was Noah Robinson, a married, relatively wealthy African American who lived next door to Helen and her mother, who worked as a maid to a white family in town. According to Jackson, growing up illegitimate in a segregated Southern city, unacknowledged by his biological father, was deeply affecting. So, too, was the love and care he experienced from his mother and grandmother , and Helen’s marriage to Charles Jackson, a janitor, who adopted him in 1957.1 Of Charles, Jackson said “he gave me his name, his love, his encouragement , discipline and a high sense of self respect.”2 Jesse was a talented athlete and an able student, who upon graduation in 1959 accepted a football to the Democratic National Convention 373 scholarship from the University of Illinois. He was disappointed to discover that discrimination and prejudice were as pervasive in the North as they had been in South Carolina, and for his sophomore year, he transferred to North Carolina A&T College in Greensboro, North Carolina, a historically black college.3 Jackson arrived at A&T after the famed Woolworth sit-in of February 1960, but he quickly became involved in other civil rights activities at the school. As student body president, he helped organize similar protests and in June 1963 was arrested at one of those demonstrations. The previous December he had married Lavinia Brown, and in May 1964 he graduated from A&T with a degree in sociology.4 Upon graduation, Jackson enrolled in Chicago Theological Seminary, but the following spring he travelled south to meet Martin Luther King Jr. and ask for work with King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). In early 1966, Jackson was appointed to lead Operation Breadbasket for the SCLC’s Chicago chapter.5 Operation Breadbasket, a program intended to expand the civil rights movement, focused on improving economic opportunities for African Americans. Jackson became embroiled in some controversy following Dr. King’s assassination in 1968. Interviewed on national television, Jackson described himself as the last person to be with King as he lay shot on the balcony of the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis. Telegenic, charismatic, and a successful community activist in Chicago, Jackson attracted considerable media attention, although his story about the assassination was disputed by other SCLC leaders. A struggle over leadership of the SCLC ensued, and in 1971, Jackson was forced out of the SCLC.6 Remaining in Chicago, Jackson founded Operation People United to Save Humanity (PUSH), an organization patterned largely after Operation Breadbasket. In addition to this community-based activist work, in the 1970s, Jackson became known for his positive self-improvement speeches aimed at disadvantaged youth, centered on the phrase, “I am somebody.” In 1976, he created PUSH-Excel, a branch of the PUSH organization focused on youth.7 During the 1970s and early 1980s, Jackson’s political activities became increasingly important. In 1979, he traveled to South Africa, where he vehemently denounced the system of apartheid. He later journeyed to the Middle East, and during that trip he controversially embraced Yasir Arafat, the exiled leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization. In 1983, he campaigned energetically for Harold Washington’s election as mayor of Chicago. Not only did Washington become the first African American mayor of that city, but during the course of the campaign, Jackson’s organization helped Jesse Louis Jackson 374 register one hundred thousand new African American...