[VIDEO GALLERY] Shaw University’s Annual MLK Celebration

Raleigh, NC – Former U.S. Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. delivered the keynote address for Shaw University’s Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration, on Thursday, January 24, 2019. The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., iconic civil rights activist, was scheduled to speak, however due to illness, he was not able to attend and asked his son to come in his stead. 

The son of one of the foremost civil rights activists of the 20th century, Jesse Jackson, Jr., won his first campaign for elected office when he prevailed in a special election to represent a U.S. House district that stretched across South Chicago and outlying communities. From his seat on the House Appropriations Committee, Jackson focused on improving the economy of his largely suburban district and attended to national issues affecting the African-American community, such as voting reform and health care. “I’m in Congress not because of something I’ve done,” Jackson once said, “but because of the many African Americans who have fought for me to be there.”

Jesse L. Jackson, Jr., was born in Greenville, South Carolina, on March 11, 1965, the second of five children of Jesse, a civil rights activist, and Jacqueline Davis Jackson. He attended Le Mans Academy, a private military preparatory school, and graduated from St. Albans School in Washington, D.C. Jackson eschewed football scholarships from the University of Michigan, Notre Dame, and the University of Southern California, choosing to attend his father’s alma mater instead. Jackson graduated in 1987 with a bachelor of science degree in business management from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. Two years later, he earned a master’s degree in theology from the Chicago Theological Seminary. In 1993, he completed his J.D. at the University of Illinois–Chicago College of Law. After earning his law degree, Jackson served two years as national field director of the Rainbow Coalition, a political organization founded by his father. Jackson and his ex-wife, Sandi, have two children, Jessica Donatella and Jesse L. Jackson, III.

Here are the highlights of event. Photos: Phyllis Coley