Today, we mourn the loss of Civil Rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson.
As news outlets across the nation honor his life and legacy, I want to share a couple of anecdotes and what they mean, both to me personally and for the broader mission of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.
Years ago, I attended one of his Rainbow PUSH (People United to Save/Serve Humanity) Coalition events in Memphis, TN. I saw firsthand how he infused every gathering with moral clarity, urgency and a message of personal empowerment.
Rosa Parks, center, and Rev. Jackson, far right, at the first International Freedom Conductor Awards event in 1998.
Years later, while recruiting at Cornell University on behalf of Procter & Gamble, I learned that Rev. Jackson was dining in a private room adjacent to where I was seated just minutes before delivering a major campus presentation. When I approached, he welcomed my greeting and treated my questions with kindness, seriousness and genuine interest.
Some close to the Freedom Center may remember the very first International Freedom Conductor Awards in 1998, when we honored Rosa Parks as our inaugural recipient. My friend and founding President and CEO of the Freedom Center, Ed Rigaud, reminded me that Rev. Jackson arrived at the sold-out VIP event unannounced that evening with his friend Steve Reece, the Cincinnati businessman and civic leader. “Where’s the podium? I want to talk with this group,” Rev. Jackson said. To which Ed graciously replied, “Rev. Jackson, there is no podium.”
With no podium available, he improvised by standing on a chair and addressing the audience. Later that night, with the program being filled beyond capacity, Nick Clooney — emcee for the evening — gave up his seat next to Rosa Parks so Rev. Jackson could sit beside her.
What resonates with me about these memories is how deeply Rev. Jackson believed in young people and the essential role young people have in social justice movements. As a young professional, I felt seen when he paused his dinner to spend a few minutes talking with me. His famed “I am…Somebody” affirmation was more than a chant. It was a charge for every person to understand their worth and use it to lift someone else.
His presence at our first International Freedom Conductor Awards helped clarify, even then, our understanding of what modern freedom fighting looks like. It demonstrated that no moment should go unseized when rallying people around a shared purpose.
Finally, Rev. Jackson’s Rainbow PUSH Coalition embodied the very values we teach at the Freedom Center. The Underground Railroad was a network of people across racial, socioeconomic, and geographical divides who cooperated willingly, often at great personal risk, to seek and secure freedom. Their stories of courage, cooperation, and perseverance became a blueprint for the Civil Rights Movement and continue to serve as a roadmap for social justice movements today.
Today, we mourn the loss of someone integral to the ongoing fight for freedom and equality.
But tomorrow, as Rev. Jackson would always say, we “Keep Hope Alive”!
Woodrow Keown, Jr.
President & COO
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center