Mother of civil rights leader Jesse Jackson dies
Source: WCNC.com NBC Charlotte
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Helen Burns Jackson, who gave birth at the age of 16 to a boy who would grow up to become one of the nation's most prominent civil rights leaders and run for president twice, died Monday. She was 92.
She had been in declining health for several years but didn't suffer from any chronic disease, her son, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, said.
"God has given her a long life and he's letting her down easy," Jackson said during a meeting with editors and reporters of The Greenville News a few days before his mother's death.
He remembered her as the embodiment of Christian charity, and as a lifelong advisor who always kept him going back to the Scriptures for guidance.
Read more: http://www.wcnc.com/story/news/nation/2015/09/07/jesse-jackson-mother-dies/71848426/
shenmue
(38,506 posts)Skwmom
(12,685 posts)It's always tough to lose your mom.
underpants
(183,070 posts)I was in an Army barracks. She raised a great man.
brer cat
(24,673 posts)BumRushDaShow
(130,142 posts)And condolences to the Jackson family.
She got to see her son run twice for President and get a respectable number of votes and saw the first black President elected - something not on anyone's radar among the AA community this "soon" after emancipation.
CountAllVotes
(20,884 posts)and what he said when asked if he still wanted to be president he said, "The fire still burns." I'll never forget it as I voted for him. JJ.
May his late mother RIP.