City to Honor Renowned Civil Rights Advocate Rev. Jesse Jackson

Portion of W. Carolina St. named for leader who urged America to “Keep Hope Alive”

August 06, 2026

Renowned civil rights foot-soldier Rev. Jesse Louis Jackson Sr. (1941-2026) is being honored on Tuesday, Aug. 11, by the City of Tallahassee, for the impact he made locally. The Tallahassee City Commission passed a resolution on June 10, 2026, renaming W. Carolina Street (from N. Adams Street to S. Copeland Street) as Rev. Jesse Jackson Street. A ceremony will be held at 10:30 a.m. at Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, 224 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Rev. Jackson, a protégé of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was an internationally recognized civil rights leader, two-time presidential candidate and ordained Baptist preacher whose six decades of service significantly advanced civil rights, economic and social justice, gender equality and human rights.

While not from Tallahassee, Jackson’s trips to the city spanned decades. According to published reports, the Greenville, South Carolina, native had a special affinity for Florida’s Capital City because of its role in the Civil Rights Movement. The Tallahassee Bus Boycott in 1956 ended segregation on public buses in the community. He’d also met Rev. C. K. Steele (then pastor of Bethel Baptist Church and president of the Florida NAACP), who was recruited by Dr. King to help lead the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). From 1984 when Jackson first ran for President to 2016 when he led a group of pastors, residents and politicians on a Sunday walk through downtown for “Souls to the Polls” on the last day of early voting in Leon County, Jackson traveled to Tallahassee at least 12 times. He visited churches and the campuses of FAMU and FSU to address civil rights and human rights issues and talk about the importance of voter registration and voting.

During his storied life, Jackson was student body president at North Carolina A&T State University, directed Operation Breadbasket for Dr. King in Chicago (the SCLC’s national economic justice initiative), and founded Operation PUSH and the Rainbow Coalition, which later merged to form the Rainbow PUSH Coalition (a leading voice for civil rights and civic participation). He was also a leading advocate for global human rights, democracy and the end of apartheid in South Africa.

President Bill Clinton awarded Rev. Jackson the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States’ highest civilian honor, at the White House in 2000. For his work in human and civil rights and nonviolent social change, Jackson received more than 40 honorary doctorate degrees.

Jackson married his college sweetheart Jacqueline Lavinia Brown in 1963 and was the father of six children.