Keep Hope Alive: The Legacy That Lives Here

A lot happened in 1977. Roots premiered as an eight-episode television miniseries. Studio 54 opened in New York City. Reggie Jackson hit three home runs on three consecutive pitches in the World Series. Grandmaster Flash formed the Furious Five. Even James Earl Ray, the convicted killer of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., briefly escaped from prison.

And on Feb. 20, 1977, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. came to Evansville.

He spoke at the Vanderburgh Auditorium, now the Old National Events Plaza, and the following day at Bosse High School during Black History Month. With him came the conviction and clarity of a rising national leader who had marched alongside Dr. King and was beginning to build what would become a powerful political movement.

When news broke on Feb. 17 of Jackson’s passing, Our Times set out to find the people who were in those rooms nearly five decades ago — the residents who heard him speak, shook his hand, and remembered what it felt like to witness him in person.

In an era before smartphones, livestreams, and social media, that search proved challenging. We posted online, made announcements in congregations, visited community centers, and asked for photographs, ticket stubs, and memories — anything that might help us reconstruct that moment in time.

We gathered what we could.

But in the process, something else became clear.

As we attended local celebrations of Black history this month, we were reminded that the seeds sown by leaders like Rev. Jesse Jackson did not remain in the auditoriums where he spoke. They took root — right here in Evansville — and across the nation in ways that continue to impact communities today.

Every day, we see the fruit. Even in Evansville where that legacy took shape across the community.

Opening Political Doors

Rev. Jesse Jackson emerged as one of the most influential political voices of the late 20th century, helping reshape national politics through voter mobilization and coalition-building. In 1983, he gained international attention when he helped secure the release of U.S. Navy Lt. Robert O. Goodman from Syria after meeting with Syrian President Hafez al-Assad.

Jackson soon carried that influence into electoral politics, launching a groundbreaking presidential campaign in 1984 that won more than three million votes, carried several Democratic primaries, and helped register millions of new voters. His widely praised “Common Ground” speech at the Democratic National Convention that year emphasized unity across racial and economic lines. Four years later, his second presidential campaign expanded that movement even further, earning nearly seven million votes and multiple primary victories — the most successful presidential campaign by a Black candidate in U.S. history at the time.

For many Black Americans, Jackson’s candidacy represented the first time they saw someone who looked like them seriously contend for the nation’s highest office. Watez Phelps Sr. remembers the pride he felt seeing a qualified Black man run for president. Jackson’s campaign not only encouraged people to register to vote, Phelps said, but inspired him personally to cast a ballot for the first time.

In Evansville, that broader push for representation was unfolding in real time. In 1976 — just one year before Jackson’s visit — Estella Moss made history when she was elected Vanderburgh County Recorder, becoming the first African American woman to hold public office in the county. An exhibit honoring Moss now stands in the foyer of the Central Library at the Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library.

Her leadership helped open doors for those who followed. Today, figures such as Connie Robinson Blair and Evansville Mayor Stephanie Terry reflect a broader shift toward representation in public office. Part of that legacy challenged the boundaries of who belonged in positions of power.

Faith and Works

Faith was the foundation for Rev. Jesse Jackson’s activism. He was an ordained Baptist minister and protégé of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Leaders of the Black church, specifically Dr. King, viewed ministry and social justice as one in the same. As a young leader in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Jackson was appointed by King as the first director of Operation Breadbasket in Chicago, organizing churches and communities to demand economic opportunity for Black workers and businesses.

After King’s assassination, Jackson continued that faith-driven approach by founding Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity) in 1971 and the National Rainbow Coalition in 1984. Both movements were built on the belief that spiritual conviction should translate into economic empowerment, education, and political participation. By 1996, the two organizations merged to form the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.

That same model of leadership championed by King and Jackson has long existed in Evansville. The late Rev. Dr. John M. Caldwell, pastor of Zion Missionary Baptist Church and a pioneering civic figure became the first African American elected to the Evansville City Council in 1967, breaking barriers in local government while continuing his work in ministry and civil rights advocacy.

To honor his legacy of faith and public service, the Soul Writers Guild of the Evansville African American Museum established the Dr. John Caldwell Lecture Series, recognizing individuals whose lives reflect the same commitment to leadership, service, and community empowerment.

This year, the Lecture Series Award was presented to Rev. John Herring Sr., pastor of St. John’s East United Church of Christ. Herring has spent decades in ministry: teaching, preaching, and evangelizing. He also founded a community chess club, where he teaches the game of chess and life to young people across the city. An active member of SIMA (Southern Indiana Mentoring Academy), Herring is committed to helping young people see possibilities beyond the challenges of their circumstances. When asked about Jackson’s influence on him, Herring said, “When you’ve been down for a long time and told you’re not enough, Rev. Jesse Jackson’s message to ‘keep hope alive’ was powerful.”  “Hearing him say ‘I am somebody’ made you believe you could achieve things-even in the face of barriers.”

Another leader who embodies the same spirit is Rev. Dr. Adrian M. Brooks Sr., pastor of Memorial Baptist Church. Since 1993, he has built a ministry that extends far beyond the walls of the church. Under his leadership, the church expanded its mission into housing, youth employment programs, education, and community development through the Memorial Community Development Corporation. Brooks believes that the church is not just a place of worship, but a catalyst for community transformation. “Our faith is not something confined to the church. It must be active in the community, empowering people and bringing resources to those who need them,” Brooks said. “When Rev. Jesse Jackson said, ‘I am somebody’ and told us to ‘keep hope alive,’ he was reminding us that we are a child of God and have the power to overcome the barriers we face.”

Keeping Hope Alive

Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. will be remembered for many things — a protégé of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a champion of Black political and economic power, a gifted orator, and one of the most influential voices to emerge from the Civil Rights Movement. Since his 1977 visit to Evansville, the echoes of his message still resonate.

At this year’s NAACP Evansville Branch Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast, keynote speaker Rev. Ryan Jackson, pastor of New Hope Missionary Baptist Church, did something that Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. himself was known for doing so well: he encouraged and inspired. His message called on Americans to lead not with legislation alone, but with love; and to use their voices with courage, civic responsibility, and compassion.

Those words are the fruit of a legacy built by leaders like King and Jackson.

Rev. Jesse Jackson was a giant, not only because of the positions he held or the stages he stood on, but because he challenged people to believe in their self-worth and power. If we remember his words, if we believe that we are somebody, then the work continues.

And so does the call to Keep Hope Alive.