Look at the coded language the Right is using against President Barack Obama. Openly calling him a liar in Congress, saying he is 'not a Christian, he was not born here, he is not one of us.' That makes addressing such issues trickier for the first African-American in the White House.

Time magazine quoted Jackson as saying at that time that the traditional civil rights movement had lost its "offensive thrust. In the mid-1990s he was approached about being the United States Ambassador to South Africa but declined the opportunity in favor of helping his son Jesse Jackson Jr. In 1965 Jackson participated in the Selma to Montgomery marches organized by James Bevel King and other civil rights leaders in Alabama.

He is the founder of the organizations that merged to form Rainbow/PUSH. is his eldest son.