Lower thirds:

00:03 Report by / Aaron Tilton
00:57 Jesse Jackson / US civil rights leader

Script:

His was a life of service and leadership. One that started in the shadow of legends and led him to the forefront in the struggle for basic human rights. 

Jesse Jackson was born in the segregated south in 1941. While attending university, he became politically active and worked with famed civil rights leader Martin Luther King jr. until his assignation in 1968. Jackson would later claim King died in his arms. 

Jesse Jackson was a crusader for the poor and underrepresented throughout the United States. Leading the charge on issues like voting rights and equal access to education and health care with his Rainbow PUSH Coalition.  

Like King before him, his message was one of community and unity in the face of injustice.  

+++REVEREND JESSE JACKSON, US CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER+++
"We must turn from finger pointing to clasp hands. We must share our burdens and our joys with each other once again. We must turn to each other and not on each other, and choose higher ground."

He was also a trail blazer with ambitions for the US' highest office. 

+++REVEREND JESSE JACKSON, US CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER+++
"My name will go as a nomination for the presidency on Wednesday night, July 20, in fulfillment of the dreams and the hopes of those that have worked for the privilege to occur and as an expression of the principles that this campaign represents." 

His bids  may have failed but for some it laid the groundwork for Barak Obama two decades later. 

While the last years of his life were shaped by illness, Jackson was a tireless defender of the downtrodden till the end. 

END