- Born at 3:30pm-EST
- Had a favorable song written about him, "Jesse Jackson," by Kris Kristofferson, recorded on the 1976 album, "Third World Warrior.".
- Jackson and Ralph Abernathy were both waiting at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis for Martin Luther King the very day he was assassinated, April 4, 1968. The friends had planned to have dinner together that evening.
- Rainbow Push Coalition president and founder.
- Has close personal ties to Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, and has spoken positively of Castro in speeches given in the Communist nation.
- Served as one of several celebrity witnesses to testify at the trial of the "Chicago Eight" featuring defendants, Abbie Hoffman, David Dellinger, Jerry Rubin, Tom Hayden, Bobby Seale, Rennie Davis, John Froines and Lee Weiner (1969-1970).
- Admitted to having fathered the daughter of a woman with whom he had an extramarital affair. (2001)
- Is a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated.
- Ran for the Democratic Party's nomination for President in 1984 and 1988. He won several state primaries in his second run.
- Father-in-law of Sandi Jackson.
- His mother Helen Burns (1924-2015) gave birth to him at age 16.
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