II.

Early Life

Jackson was born to Helen Burns, in Greenville, South Carolina. His father, Noah Robinson, a former professional boxer and one of the most prominent and economically successful blacks in the community, was married to another woman. In 1943 Helen Burns married Charles Henry Jackson, who formally adopted Jesse in 1957.

Jackson was an outstanding athlete and an honors student at Greenville's segregated Sterling High School. After graduation in 1959, he rejected a contract from a professional baseball team in favor of a football scholarship to the University of Illinois. However, Jackson soon learned that while racially integrated, the University of Illinois did not offer blacks equality. A star quarterback in high school, Jackson found that the Illinois football program did not allow blacks to play quarterback. Some of his professors also made their racial biases clear. For example, a speech professor demoted Jackson to an alternate position on a public speaking competition team, despite the fact that his class had voted him a place on the team for his outstanding abilities. After one year at Illinois, Jackson transferred to all-black North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (A&T) in Greensboro.