Jesse Jackson on Asserting Self Worth and Black Pride (1963)

 

Four centuries of  slavery, racial segregation , and discrimination  harmed the psyche of the African American. Jesse Jackson ( 1941- 2026)  was one of many African American civil rights leaders to promote self worth and black pride. Speaking in 1963, he challenged the notion that African Americans were destined to remain second class citizens. Many had convinced themselves they were inferior to whites. Oppression can not survive without a degree of compliance and self hatred.  During the civil rights movement African American self image required a radical transformation. African Americans had to see themselves as people who deserved rights, respect, and political power. Black skin was nothing to be ashamed of or vituperated. This was why Jesse Jackson would recite the poem " I Am Somebody." A reminder that no human being should be treated as a less than. African American self assertion and pride brought about a conservative and white backlash. After two liberal presidential administrations in the 1960s, the Nixon administration moved the country in a conservative direction. Jesse Jackson would continue to fight for civil rights and racial equality in the following decades.