Jesse Jackson Jr. is a former African-American Democratic Congressman. From 1995 to 2012, he represented Illinois’s 2nd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. Moreover, his father was an eminent political figure who was a former presidential candidate.
Born on March 11, 1965, in Greenville, South Carolina, Jesse Louis Jackson, Jr. grew up in the Jackson Park Highlands District. He received his early education from a nursery school and John J. Pershing Elementary School. He and his brother were sent to Le Mans Military Academy in Rolling Prairie, Indiana considering Jackson’s hyperactive behavior. He was often paddled for disciplinary reasons and also suspended twice from school. Besides, he showed keen interest in sports as he played for his high school football team and featured on one of Sports Illustrated’s sections. Following in his father’s footsteps he enrolled himself at North Carolina A&T University. In 1987, he received Bachelor of Science degree with magna cum laude. He took his father’s advice and went on to attend the Chicago Theological Seminary from where he obtained the masters degree.
Jackson’s educational background is quite rich as he went on to study at a law school at the University Of Illinois College Of Law. He earned Juris Doctor (J.D.) in 1993, however, he did not take bar exam even after he finished his coursework. In his teen years he assisted his father along with his brothers in civil rights activities. He also helped his father in his presidential campaign by holding a voter registration drive that registered 3,500 voters on a campus. Upon graduation he accepted his first job as an executive director for the Rainbow Coalition. His father had him involved in the 1988 Democratic primaries and obtained a position for him as an at-large member of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The position offered him the opportunity to work on a number of congressional election races. Afterwards, he was promoted to the post of a vice president of Operation PUSH.
