In office January 3, 1991 – January 3, 1997 Serving with Florence Pendleton Preceded by none Succeeded by Paul Strauss Born October 8, 1941 (1941-10-08) (age 69) Greenville, South Carolina Birth name Jesse Louis Burns Nationality American Political party Democratic Spouse(s) Jacqueline Lavinia Brown (m. 1962) Children Santita Jackson, Jesse Jackson Jr., Jonathan Jackson, Yusef DuBois Jackson, Jacqueline Lavinia Jackson, Ashley Laverne Jackson (with Karin Stanford) Alma mater North Carolina A&T Chicago Theological Seminary Occupation American civil rights activist minister Religion Baptist Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. (born October 8, 1941) is an American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He was the founder of both entities that merged to form Rainbow/PUSH. Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr. is his eldest son. In an AP-AOL "Black Voices" poll in February 2006, Jackson was voted "the most important black leader" with 15% of the vote..