NPR Arts & Life

How Rev. Jesse Jackson's approach to civil rights differed from Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s

WBUR | By Here & Now Newsroom

Published February 20, 2026 at 11:04 AM CST

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Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., second from right, stands with Hosea Williams, left, Jesse Jackson, second from left, and Ralph Abernathy, right, on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., a day before he was assassinated at approximately the same place, April 3, 1968. (Charles Kelly/AP)

Here & Now‘s Peter O’Dowd looks at how the different ideas and tactics of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Rev. Jesse Jackson impacted the direction of the Civil Rights Movement.

Peniel Joseph, professor of public affairs and history at the University of Texas at Austin, and the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs there, shares more.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.