Remembering Jesse Jackson’s powerful moments at UCLA

In April 1972, the Rev. Jesse Jackson stood before students at UCLA and delivered what would become one of several defining touchpoints between the civil rights leader and the Westwood campus community. A recording of that fiery address, preserved in the UCLA Irv and Xiaoyan Drasnin Communication Archive, captures Jackson urging students to recognize that the civil rights victories of the 1950s and '60s were only a beginning. Legal rights, he argued, meant little without economic power - power in the form of jobs, political organization and disciplined voter engagement. "Economics is the issue," he told the crowd, urging Bruins to develop their minds, claim their agency and organize strategically.

Jackson returned to speak in Westwood several times, including a keynote address at UCLA School of Law's 39th commencement ceremony in May 1990. On May 18, 1997, he returned to address law school graduates as the effects of California's Proposition 209 were reshaping admissions and civil rights policy. Speaking to the class of 1997, he warned that the gains of the Civil Rights Movement were being rolled back and challenged Bruins to resist. That same year, he appeared at a campus-wide rally supporting affirmative action, joining the campus community in a teach-in and public demonstration that reflected UCLA's front-row seat in the debate over diversity and equal opportunity in education.

Though not an alumnus, Jackson's presence at UCLA spanned decades and was an important imprint on the campus at moments of national consequence. Each campus visit underscored his enduring message: that education must be paired with action, that political participation is both a right and a responsibility, and that universities are not ivory towers but staging grounds for civic engagement.