Reverend Jesse Jackson is a Baptist minister and civil rights icon. A native of Greenville, South Carolina, Rev. Jackson served as a shadow U.S. Senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988, during which he won millions of votes and helped elect hundreds of elected officials. Rev. Jackson is the founder of the organizations that merged to form Rainbow/PUSH, a social justice organization devoted to political empowerment, education and changing public policy. On August 9, 2000, President Bill Clinton awarded Rev. Jackson the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
