1. Jesse Jackson Jr.
• U.S. House of Representative for
Illinois’s 2nd Congressional District

2. PERSONAL LIFE
• Jesse Jackson Jr. was born on March 11th, 1965 in Greenville, South Carolina.
• As a teenager he was sent to Le Mans Military Academy in Watertown,
Wisconsin and was diagnosed with hyperactive, and usually was paddled
during his time as a cadet.
• Jesse had to repeat the 9th grade after he decided to go to school in
Washington D.C. to be closer to his father because he did not meet the
foreign language requirement.
• Also his play as an all-state running back in football ran him into a Sports
Illustrated article.

3. Education
• Attended Le Mans Military Academy and St.
Albans for High School.
• In college, Jesse Jr. followed his father’s
footsteps and attended North Carolina A&T in
Greensboro, North Carolina.
• In 1989, he earned his M.A. from the Chicago
Theological Seminary in Chicago, Illinois.
• He earned his J.D. from the University of
Illinois College of Law in 1993.

4. Employment History
✤ Assisted his father Jesse Jackson in international civil rights activities.
✤ Him and three of his brothers appeared at events together to support
their father during his presidential campaign in 1984.

5. National Recognition
Helped Democrats on the campaign trail.
He was chosen to represent the Congress on the television game show Jeopardy.
Voted in dissent on several notable bills that were the products of such compromise.
Jesse Jr. preferred direct aid and debt relief to trade reform to help impoverished
nations.
Jackson had controversial interactions with Jewish leaders because of his message of
unity and cooperation was met with skepticism.
He spent his 21st birthday in a jail cell in Washington D.C. because of his
participation in demonstrations against apartheid at the South African Embassy. He
was also arrested the year before along side his father and brother.

6. IMPORTANT DECISIONS/
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
• Jackson Jr. saved his father from an allergic reaction or asthma attack by taking
action to block the A/C vents that were blowing on him during his speech.
• Became a Vice President of Operation PUSH.
• Elected Congressmen in 1995.
• Jackson won re-election in the 2000 House of Representatives by a 90-10
margin over Robert Gordon.
• In 2005, Jackson & John Kerry wrote a bill designating $370,000 for the
creation of a life-size Rosa Parks statue to be put in Statuary Hall at the
United States Capitol.

7. REFLECTION ON EFFECTIVENESS
He has co-wrote on books and has written his own.
Has never missed a floor vote and has effect on ideas and
politics.