Skip to content
Culture Blurb

Culture Blurb

Black Culture Family Life

Menu
  • Home
  • At Work
  • Good To Know
    • Current Events
    • History
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
  • Reviews
    • Book Reviews
    • Movie Reviews
  • General
  • About Us
Menu
Jesse Jackson during '84 campaign

Jesse Jackson For President

Posted on October 22, 2020June 17, 2022 by Contributing Writer

Jesse Jackson is a civil rights activist, minister, and politician. Jesse Jackson marched with Martin Luther King Jr. and was at the hotel with King when he was assassinated in 1968. After King’s death, Jackson continued to fight for black civil rights through the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). When Jackson split from SCLC in 1971, he formed Operation PUSH (People United to Serve Humanity). Operation PUSH goal was pressure to politicians to improve economic opportunities for blacks and the poor.

Operation PUSH organized boycotts against corporations such as Anheuser Busch beer, Coca-Cola, and CBS affiliates. The purpose of the boycotts were to make them hire and promote blacks and black businesses. Due to his increased public influence and success with politicians and boycotts, Jesse Jackson ran for President of the United States in 1984. While he was not seen as a threat, Jackson did manage to gain more votes than Joe Biden who was a Democratic ballot competitor. Jackson lost in 3rd place to Democrat Walter Mondale and Mondale lost to incumbent Republican Ronald Reagan.

Keeping hope alive, Jesse Jackson ran for President again in 1988. This campaign was better organized and better financed. His campaign helped register more than 2 million new voters. In the Democratic Primary, Jesse Jackson beat Al Gore and Joe Biden who had dropped out of the race. Jesse Jackson came in second place to Democrat Michael Dukakis who lost to Republican George Bush Sr. While Al Gore and Joe Biden would in later years each become Vice President, neither could win against Jesse Jackson. The lessons of Jackson’s campaigns and the path he blazed helped create the opportunity 20 years later for Barack Obama to become elected in 2008. Culture Blurb thanks Jesse Jackson Jr. for his work to help advance the socioeconomic gains of the poor and African-Americans.

Share this:

  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit

About Culture Blurb

Culture Blurb is a website highlighting African-American culture and society in short summaries. The intent is to bring attention to everything that makes black culture great and discuss issues relevant to black society.

Feel free to leave comments and suggestions at comments@cultureblurb.com

Recent Posts

  • The Eye of Sauron
  • A Prince. A Piano. A Plea
  • Take All The Time You Need
  • I’ve Lost My Mother
  • Happy Mother’s Day
  • 5 Black Christmas Songs From The Ladies
  • 5 Black Christmas Songs From The Fellas
  • Giving Thanks
  • The Freedmen’s Bureau
  • Boogie Down Productions – My Philosophy
  • Did They Buy The Terrorist Burger King?
  • Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)

Gallery

Bronx dj'ing in the basketball court
Compton Cowboys riding
Racism Pandemic
African-Americans roller skating as a group
black line blue line kenosha

Archives

©2025 Culture Blurb | Built using WordPress and Responsive Blogily theme by Superb