After he graduated from high school, Jackson had an offer to play professional baseball from the Chicago White Sox. He also received a scholarship to play college football at the University of Illinois, which he accepted. He later transferred to North Carolina A&T. He was one of Martin Luther King Jr.'s main organizers in Chicago for the Southern Christian Leadership Conferences. After King was shot, Jackson formed several civil rights organizations of his own. Two of these were Operation PUSH and the Rainbow Coalition. Jackson was also active in civil rights movements outside the United States. He also served as a Baptist minister.