Inside the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s history-making 1988 presidential campaign, as the civil rights icon emerged as the first Black American to become a serious contender for the presidency. (Aired 1989)
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In the wake of Jackson’s death at age 84, FRONTLINE’s documentary chronicling his 1988 presidential run is now streaming online for the first time.
“Running with Jesse” producers Orlando Bagwell and Jeanne Jordan followed Jackson and his campaign across six months during the 1988 primary season. Jackson had first run for president four years earlier, despite never being elected into a political office. At the start of his second run, political analysts often dismissed him as a protest candidate who would appeal only to Black voters.
But roughly seven million people — more than two million of them white — voted for Jackson and his populist message in the 1988 primaries and caucuses. He won in 13 states, becoming the runner-up for the Democratic presidential nomination.
“Running With Jesse” documents how it happened. With close access to Jackson himself, his campaign staffers, his supporters and detractors, and journalists covering him, the documentary is a profound historical record of how Jackson’s campaign played out, the controversies that followed him, and what Jackson’s run signified to many.
Maxine Waters, who worked on Jackson’s campaign and went on to become a U.S. representative, said in the film, “If Jesse Jackson had not run, we really never would have known that there would have been so many people of all colors and all economic backgrounds that would have voted for him.”
“Somebody has to start it. And someone has to build upon it,” Waters said. “I don’t think things this big and this important get lost.”
Explore additional reporting related to “Running with Jesse” on our website:
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/jesse-jackson-historic-1988-presidential-run-documentary-streaming/
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