Rev. Jesse Louis Jackson (1941- ), the most prominent black leader in the United States today, was a college student when he became a field director for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). In 1966, Jackson was chosen by Martin Luther King, Jr. to head Operation Breadbasket, a program of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which sought to create job opportunities for blacks in Chicago, Illinois.

Ordained a Baptist minister in 1968, Jackson left the SCLC in 1971 to found Operation PUSH—People United to Save (later Serve) Humanity—in Chicago. PUSH worked to open up job opportunities for blacks and encouraged black-owned business.
[ More ]