How Jesse Jackson Inspired Generations of Black Democrats

When Jesse Jackson ran for president in 1984 he was viewed as a protest candidate without the political infrastructure to mount a serious challenge. By 1988 he had spent years registering millions of new Black voters and built a multiracial Democratic coalition that included progressive white voters and people of color; he finished second, showing that a Black candidate could make a serious run for a major party’s nomination.

His campaigns created a pathway for scores of Black Democrats to seek higher office, and in the years that followed many made historic advances. L. Douglas Wilder was elected the first Black governor of Virginia in 1989, David Dinkins and Norman Rice became the first Black mayors of New York and Seattle, Ron Brown became the first Black chair of the Democratic National Committee, and Carol Moseley Braun won a Senate seat.

“Jesse Jackson provided a building block for campaigns and efforts like mine to be successful,” Ms. Moseley Braun said.

United States, Virginia, New York, Seattle

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