Why The Museum’s Farewell To Jesse Jackson Hits Home
SHERIDAN, WYOMING -- August 18, 2026 -- The National Civil Rights Museum is mourning Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., the civil rights leader who stood with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1960s and later built groups that fought for jobs and votes. He began as a young leader in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and as director of Operation Breadbasket, then founded Operation PUSH and the Rainbow Coalition. Those years were about breaking down racist systems and growing economic power in Black communities. The museum’s farewell matters to ordinary households because Jackson treated housing, health care, school access, and the right to cast a ballot as kitchen-table fights, not distant history.