On Friday, March 3, 2017, the students at Montevallo High School had a special speaker visit. His name is Jesse Jackson. The name sounds familiar because Jackson worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement. Jesse Jackson was born on October 8, 1941 in Greenville, South Carolina. When his mother was sixteen he was born out of wedlock to professional boxer and well-known figure in the black community, Noah Louis Robinson. However, when his mother married, he was adopted by Charles Henry Jackson, his step father. During high school he experienced segregation and Jim Crow laws. After high school he attended the University of Illinois on a football scholarship. He then transferred to North Carolina A&T. At North Carolina A&T he became involved in local civil rights protests. He then attended Chicago Theological Seminary but dropped out to focus directly on the Civil Rights Movement. He worked closely with MLK Jr. and was even present when he was shot. After the assassination he made is his own Civil Rights operation named People United to Serve Humanity. He ran for president twice. Needless to say, he is a very remarkable and astounding man. …show more content…
The students and faculty were very surprised that he decided to stop in their little town. The students filed into their auditorium Friday morning and anxiously awaited Jesse Jackson's appearance. Then the moment came when he showed up and all the students stood up and applauded him. Jackson then started his speech with the poem “I Am Somebody.” He had the students recite the verses back to him for emphasis and to make sure they knew it. This poem showed that anyone can be somebody no matter what background they came from or situation they're in. He then proceeded to say that people need