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‘Living Faith Out Loud’: How Jesse Jackson Changed America

‘Living Faith Out Loud’: How Jesse Jackson Changed America

Last updated on: March 2, 2026 at 6:46 pm by Ginny Baxter

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‘Living Faith Out Loud’: How Jesse Jackson Changed America 2026-03-02T18:46:17-05:00 Ginny Baxter

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Jesse Jackson is shown delivering a speech at the 1990 Goodwill Games. (Courtesy of Wikimedia)

Faith Without Action Is Just Noise

The late Rev. Jesse Jackson, who recently died at age 84, spent more than six decades bringing hope and change to millions of marginalized people in the United States and abroad. Numerous pundits have written about Jackson’s legacy in the weeks since the civil rights leader died, but Jackson best described it himself. He said his civil rights and humanitarian work was “living faith out loud.”

His interpretation of what faith means was rooted in Scripture. One lesson that the Bible teaches us numerous times is “love thy neighbor.” It’s been estimated that more than 2,000 Bible verses focus on helping the poor – the people that our society often calls “marginalized.”

God tells us to pray for the poor many times, but He goes beyond “thoughts and prayers.” He tells us to actually do something for marginalized people. For Jackson, faith without action was just noise*.*

What Does the Bible Say?

Psalm 82:3 says, “Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.” Proverbs 14:31 tells us, “Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.”

“Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy,” says Proverbs 31:9. Zechariah 7:8-10 undoubtedly hits some Americans hard when it says: “… show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor.” And this one…. “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and truth” (1 John 3:16-18).

Sowing the Seeds

Jesse Jackson began to live his faith out loud when he led his first peaceful sit-in at age 18. The protest took place in his hometown of Greenville, S.C., to promote desegregation of the whites-only public library. He was arrested, and the experience helped him lose his fear of being jailed for a just cause.

Jackson’s activism grew in the next few years, as he and his followers:

Registered millions of new voters through massive voter registration campaigns
Persuaded Democrats to replace their winner-take-all presidential primary system with a proportional one based on the number of votes candidates received
Helped open the door to more black candidates and officeholders
Helped redefine the Democratic party

“I was able to run for the presidency twice and redefine what was possible,” Jackson told AP news. “It raised the lid for women and… people of color. Part of my job was to sow seeds of the possibilities.”

The Rev. Al Sharpton, who was a protégé of Jesse Jackson, called his mentor “a movement unto himself…. He taught me that protest must have purpose, that faith must have feet, and that justice is not seasonal, it is daily work.” Read more about the civil rights icon and his contributions here.

Justice and Faith Go Together

Jesse Jackson was born in 1941 South Carolina to an unwed high school student named Helen Burns and her 33-year-old married neighbor. Roughly a year later, Helen married a postal worker who later adopted Jesse, and Jesse Burns became Jesse Jackson.

Few people would have given Jesse much chance of success given the poverty in which he lived and the racism that he faced in the Jim Crow South. But Jackson was ambitious, determined and smart. He received an athletic scholarship to the University of Illinois in 1959 but returned home after a year and eventually transferred to the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in sociology in 1964 and later received a master of divinity degree from the Chicago Theological Seminary.

While at North Carolina A&T, a historically black university, Jackson participated in civil rights demonstrations and sit-ins. He also met Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who was leading several Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965. Jackson joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and left college to work with King.

Unlike Dr. King, Jackson never served as a church pastor. Yet, faith was his foundation. As a writer for McCormick Theological Seminary said when the civil rights leader died, “…he embodied a conviction shared by generations of prophetic teachers: that justice is not separate from faith, but one of its clearest expressions.”

We Are All Children of God

The Washington Post once wrote that Jackson “advanced the prospects of black politicians by a good 25 years.” Jackson ran for president twice, the paper reminded readers. “He may never be president of the United States, but some black American will. And whoever it is will owe a tremendous debt to Jackson.” The person, of course, is Barack Obama.

The civil rights movement greatly benefited Obama as he rose to the U.S. Senate and the presidency. He called Jackson “a true giant” who helped lead “some of the most significant movements for change in human history. From organized boycotts and sit-ins, to registering millions of voters, to advocating for freedom and democracy around the world, he was relentless in his belief that we are all children of God, deserving dignity and respect.”

AP wrote that “Jackson led a lifetime of crusades in the United States and abroad, advocating for the poor and underrepresented on issues, including voting rights, job opportunities, education and healthcare. He scored diplomatic victories with world leaders, and through his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, he channeled cries for black pride and self-determination into corporate boardrooms, pressuring executives to make America a more open and equitable society.”

A Platform for Humanitarian Work

Jackson’s leadership in the civil rights movement gave him a platform for humanitarian work.

In 1984, he helped gain the release of U.S. Navy lieutenant Robert Goodman, who had been shot down over Lebanon and imprisoned by Syrians.
Later that year, Jackson helped secure the release of dozens of American and Cuban political prisoners held by Cuban president Fidel Castro.
In the early 1990s, he negotiated the release of hundreds of people being held as human shields by Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.
He also helped secure the release of Americans imprisoned in Gambia and one American being held by guerillas in Colombia, per CNN.

Jesse Jackson’s Legacy

“Jesse Jackson is described typically as a civil rights leader, as somebody who helped pave the way for the election of Barack Obama, and, while all of that is true, in some ways it’s more helpful and illuminating to see Jesse Jackson as one of the most prominent figures of the American left in the 20th century and into the 21st century.” — Martha Biondi, a professor of black studies and history at Northwestern University.

“He had a life that was formed by pain very early on, and he identified with the pain of others and those who were despised and demeaned, and he sought to speak for them.” — David Masciotra, author of I Am Somebody: Why Jesse Jackson Matters.

“He taught me that protest must have purpose, that faith must have feet, and that justice is not seasonal, it is daily work.” – Rev. Al Sharpton, a civil rights activist, radio host, political analyst and Baptist minister.

Jackson was a complex and controversial person, and few people were neutral about him. As a former journalist, I would have enjoyed meeting and interviewing him but never had the opportunity. However, another Patheos contributor – the Rev. Jim Meisner, Jr., — not only met Jackson but also conducted a brief interview and wrote a story for his college’s newspaper. Read it here.

As for me, I would have broached these and related issues:

What will it take for American leaders to stop blaming one another?
Can America’s faith leaders help the situation?
How?
Are Christians a major part of the problem?
Is religion, in general, part of the problem?
What can people of faith do to become part of the solution?
Is there anything that I can do, as an ordinary citizen, to help my country regain its honor?

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