How Jesse Jackson was shaped by Southern segregation — and went on to reshape American political life

Gibbs Knotts, Coastal Carolina University and Christopher A. Cooper, Western Carolina University

Holding hands with other prominent Black leaders, the Rev. Jesse Jackson crossed the Edmund Pettus bridge in Selma, Alabama, on March 9, 2025, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday.” Like several survivors of that violent day in 1965, when police brutally attacked civil rights protesters, Jackson crossed the bridge in a wheelchair.

Jesse Louis Jackson was born Oct. 8...