“I may be poor … But I am … somebody! I may be on welfare. But I am … somebody! I may be in jail. But I am … somebody! I may be uneducated, But I am … somebody. I am Black. Beautiful. Proud. I must be respected. I must be protected. I am … somebody!” declared Rev. Jesse Jackson in his “I Am Somebody” speech.
For more than half a century, Rev. Jackson used his reverberating voice to transform Christian communities and political rallies into proverbs of dignity. At 84, Jackson died on Tuesday, Feb. 17, leaving behind a lasting influence on national politics and shaping Houston’s civic life during and after the civil rights movement.
As a protégé of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Jackson rose to prominence during the 1964 open-housing campaign in Chicago. For six decades, the reverend remained in the public eye as an impassioned advocate for civil rights. Jackson ran for president in 1984 and 1988 in an effort to procure political power, where opposition thwarted his goals. Faced with challenges, Jackson pivoted to public demonstrations, leaned into protest and persuasive public speaking.
The Chicago Sun-Times reflected on a 1972 New York Times magazine assessment of Jackson, noting, “He is a brilliant speaker, a skilled mobilizer. He is also vain and self-seeking… a man who, at times, uses the tricks of a demagogue.”
Respected and dismissed simultaneously, the figurehead used his influence in Houstonian civic life in his 1984 campaign with vivacious remarks and unforgettable rhetoric.
Houston Public Media recalls Rev. Jackson stating, “Hands that once picked cotton can now pick presidents.”
Jackson leveraged his voice in Houston’s civic sphere to inspire Black voters to view their electoral decisions as moral authority. Jackson’s use of shared ideology was key in shifting Black disenfranchisement towards empowerment and autonomy.
“Rev. Jesse Jackson showed us what it means to turn conviction into action—at the ballot box, in the streets and in the halls of power,” Shevann Steuben told the Defender. “In Houston, we will honor his legacy by continuing to organize, protect civil rights and stand with communities who are still fighting to be seen, heard and treated fairly.”
Jackson later established the Rainbow Coalition, a political movement aimed at consolidating Black voters, labor unions, Latino communities and faith networks into unity. Houston, one of the most diverse cities in America, remains a living example of coalition politics at work, from voting rights struggles to criminal justice reform.
In 1960, after officials refused Jackson entry to a whites-only public library in Greenville, South Carolina, he came back with seven friends. Police then arrested them as part of what became known as the “Greenville Eight.” Years later, he remembered thinking, “That library’s public… I’m going to use that library,” according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
In Houston, where voting rights, economic inequality and political representation remain contested, Jackson’s message continues to resonate. The declaration was simple. The message was plain.
I am somebody.
