MOUNT VERNON — U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) will lecture Friday, April 26, at Cornell College on “A More Perfect Union: Advancing New American Rights,” which is the title of his new book, and at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Cedar Rapids on faith and social justice.
His Cornell lecture is at 11 a.m. in King Chapel, followed by a book signing in McCague Hall on the lower level of King Chapel. His lecture at St. Paul’s is at 7:30 p.m., followed by a reception. Admission is free to both lectures.
Jackson’s appearance is for the annual Small-Thomas Lecture Series, “Dreams of Peace: Visions of the Future,” a collaboration between Cornell, which is affiliated with the United Methodist Church, and St. Paul’s.
Jackson began service in the U.S. House of Representatives in December 1995 as the 91st African American elected to Congress. Before that, he served as the national field director of the National Rainbow Coalition. He instituted a national nonpartisan program that registered millions of new voters, and he created a voter education program to teach citizens the importance of participating in the political process, including how to use technology to win elections and more effectively participate in politics.
Born in 1965, Jackson grew up in a home that was politically conscious and active. He spent his 21st birthday in a jail cell in Washington, D.C., for taking part in a protest against apartheid at the South African Embassy. He also demonstrated weekly in front of the South African Consulate in Chicago. He shared the stage with Nelson Mandela during his historic speech to the world following a 27-year imprisonment in Cape Town.
Jackson earned a bachelor’s degree in business management from North Carolina A&T State University in 1987, graduating magna cum laude; a master’s degree in theology from the Chicago Theological Seminary in 1990; and a law degree from the University of Illinois in 1993.
In addition to “A More Perfect Union: Advancing New American Rights” (2001), coauthored with Frank Watkins, Jackson has written two books with his father, the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson: “Legal Lynching: Racism, Injustice and the Death Penalty” (1996), a book against the death penalty, and “It’s About the Money” (1999), on personal and family finance.
The Small-Thomas Lecture Series, which addresses diversity and community from a faith perspective, is in its third year. It was conceived and funded by Richard Small, a past chair of the Cornell board of trustees and a 1950 graduate, and his wife, honorary alumna and trustee Norma Thomas Small. The lecture series honors Norma’s father, Cecil Thomas, who was Cornell buildings and grounds superintendent (1956-1973) and consultant (1979-1991), and her mother, the late June Thomas.