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TO RECOGNIZE AND HONOR THE REVEREND JESSE LOUIS JACKSON AND TO COMMEND HIS SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT AND HIS LIFETIME OF ADVOCACY FOR HUMAN RIGHTS.
Whereas, born in Greenville, on October 18, 1941, Jesse Louis Jackson, earned a football scholarship from the University of Illinois in Chicago. Eager to try to escape the racism he had experienced early in his life, he traveled north only to find both open and hidden bigotry both at the university and in the city; and
Whereas, disillusioned after several semesters, Rev. Jackson left Illinois and returned to the south to attend North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College (A&T) in Greensboro, North Carolina, an institution for African American students, where he was elected student body president; and
Whereas, as a college senior he became a leader in the civil rights movement and actively encouraged his fellow students to protest against racial injustice by staging demonstrations and boycotts; and
Whereas, Rev. Jackson earned a bachelor's degree in sociology and economics in 1964 and returned to Illinois to attend the Chicago Theological Seminary. After two and a half years at the seminary, he left before completing his divinity degree and joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), a civil rights organization led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., that held nonviolent protests against segregation in the South; and
Whereas, Rev. Jackson became involved in international politics when President Jimmy Carter approved his visit to South Africa, where he attracted huge crowds at rallies while denouncing apartheid, South Africa's political system that denied civil rights to the black majority from enjoying the rights and privileges of the white minority; and
Whereas, in 1984, he entered the Democratic presidential primary in the United States, focusing his campaign on social programs for the poor and disabled such as reducing taxes for the poor, increasing voting rights, implementing effective programs to improve job opportunities for women and minorities, and improving civil rights; and
Whereas, when he ran again for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 1988 election, Rev. Jackson's campaign received much wider support, and he finished second after Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis; and
Whereas, on August 9, 2000, President Bill Clinton awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom to Rev. Jackson, who has continued to be a successful and ardent advocate for human rights and social change. Now, therefore,
Be it resolved by the House of Representatives:
That the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives, by this resolution, recognize and honor the Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson and commend his significant contributions to the civil rights movement and his lifetime of advocacy for human rights.
Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be presented to the Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson.
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