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It was also where he learned how to speak with In 1960, Jackson transferred to North Carolina A&T
authority and clarity in the midst of chaos, he once said. in Greensboro, where he continued playing football
Later, as a leader in the civil rights struggle, he would and served as student body president. There, he was
say: “I’m still calling plays every minute, every hour, mentored by the school’s president, Samuel DeWitt
every day.” Proctor, one of the great activists and intellectual minds
of the civil rights movement. He graduated with a B.S.
Jackson grew out of a stutter that he discovered in sociology in 1964, but not before he experienced one
disappeared when he spoke to large groups. In church, of the most pivotal moments of his life. The handsome
he was transfixed by the power of the gospel and the quarterback was captivated by a fellow Aggie, Lavinia
voices of the congregation, lifted up in a unified call- Jaqueline Brown, who later became his wife.
and-response. Soon, he became a regular speaker at the
Long Branch Baptist Church in his hometown, where From Jackson’s early life in Greenville to his time in
he nurtured his ability to move the flock with his words. Greensboro, there seemed to be an almost divinely
arranged exposure to the greatest thinkers and
Jackson’s ticket out of Greenville came in the form forefathers of the civil rights movement. Dr. Benjamin
of his talent as an athlete. Following his graduation Mays, the influential former Morehouse College
from Sterling High School in 1959, he attended the president and spiritual adviser to Dr. King visited
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign on a football Jackson’s high school. At A&T, other figures, like Dr.
scholarship. Jackson quickly realized, though, that the Howard Thurman, visited the campus, influencing
cold and the social isolation did not suit him. Jackson with their philosophic and spiritual framing of
the struggle for civil rights.
Around that time, activism was spreading rapidly
among young Black students. Greenville could not To a greater degree than any sports figure, Jackson said,
escape the relentless push to move Jim Crow into the “these men, as they traversed our campus, became the impressionistic forces in my life.”
dustpan of history. Even famed baseball icon Jackie
Robinson was warned by local whites to learn his place He had a taste of history’s power and the promise of righteous, nonviolent action. From that moment on,
when he visited Greenville in the fall of 1959. everything that his life had added up to morphed into something of far greater purpose.

In Greensboro, Jackson grew into his calling. His rhetoric matured, his activism deepened, and his world
expanded. In August of 1963, he traveled to the National Mall to witness the March on Washington, where Dr,
King’s words became imprinted on his soul.

Inspired by King, Jackson would pursue the ministry, but instead of the South, where he was born, he went north,
where the Civil Rights Movement had not yet taken hold. They feel this paragraph may not be in sync with his time
with Dr. King and his enrollment.

That episode touched off a flurry of activism in the
otherwise sleepy town. And when Jackson returned
home, he caught the spirit too. He organized a group
of young people – the Greenville Eight, as they were
later known – to stage a sit-in at the local library. Black
residents were not permitted to check out books there
until the Greenville Eight led the efforts that forced it
to integrate. Jackson was arrested during one of the
demonstrations and bailed out of the local jail for $30
after word reached his mother on the local news. In that
one heart-pounding instant, Rev. Jackson lost his fear of
jails and gained his thirst for justice.