H 5197

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026
Bill 5197
Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter
(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)
A house RESOLUTION
TO REMEMBER AND CELEBRATE THE LIFE OF Reverend Jesse
Louis Jackson, TO HONOR HIS REMARKABLE COMMITMENT as an American Civil rights
activist, and to EXTEND THE DEEPEST SYMPATHY of the south Carolina House of
REpresentatives TO HIS LARGE AND LOVING FAMILY AND HIS MANY FRIENDS.
Whereas, the members of
the South Carolina House of Representatives were deeply saddened to learn of
the death of Reverend Jesse Jackson at the age of eighty-four on February 17,
2026, after suffering for more than a decade with progressive supranuclear
palsy, a neurological disease; and
Whereas, a native son
of Greenville, he was born on October 8, 1941, as Jesse Louis Burns and changed
his surname to Jackson after his mother married his stepfather. He was reared
under Jim Crow segregation laws which he accepted until the Montgomery bus
boycott of 1955. He attended Sterling High School in Greenville, where he was
elected student class president, graduated tenth in his class in 1959, and
earned letters in baseball, football, and basketball; and
Whereas, after
graduation, young Jackson rejected a minor league professional baseball
contract to attend the University of Illinois on a football scholarship. He
transferred to North Carolina A&T, an historically black university in
Greensboro, North Carolina, where he played quarterback on the football team
and was elected student body president. He became active in local civil rights
protests against segregated libraries, theaters, and restaurants, and he earned
a bachelor's degree in 1964; and
Whereas, he continued
to prepare for his storied career by studying at Chicago Theological Seminary
where he received a scholarship. He left in 1966 three courses shy of finishing
his degree and was later awarded a Master of Divinity from Chicago Theological
Seminary in 2000. He was ordained in 1968 after beginning his work with Martin
Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). In
1965, he participated in the Selma to Montgomery marches after which he was charged
with establishing a frontline office for the SCLC in Chicago; and
Whereas, in 1966, Reverend
Jackson was chosen to head the Chicago branch of the SCLC's economic arm,
Operation Breadbasket, and was promoted to national director in 1967. Operation
Breadbasket had been started by the Atlanta leadership of the SCLC as a job
placement agency for blacks; and
Whereas, as he became
one of the world's best known Black activists, Reverend Jackson would go on to
form numerous organizations which eventually amalgamated into the Rainbow PUSH
Coalition; and
Whereas, Reverend
Jackson served from 1971 to 1997 in the United States Senate as a shadow
senator from the District of Columbia and launched two campaigns for President
in 1984 and again in 1988; and
Whereas, he leaves
behind to cherish his memory his beloved wife, Jaqueline Brown, and six fine
children, two of whom have served as members of the United States House of
Representatives. He was blessed to see the continuation of his family legacy in
numerous grandchildren; and
Whereas, the members of
the South Carolina House of Representatives are grateful for the life and
legacy of Jesse Jackson and for the example of dedicated service and
inspirational leadership he set for all who knew him. Now, therefore,
Be it resolved by the House of Representatives:
That the members of the
South Carolina House of Representatives,
by this resolution, remember and celebrate the life of Reverend Jesse Louis
Jackson, honor his remarkable commitment as an American Civil Rights activist, and
extend the deepest sympathy of the South Carolina House to his large and loving
family and his many friends.
Be it further resolved
that a copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Reverend Jesse
Louis Jackson.
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This web page was last updated on February 18, 2026 at 01:08 PM