One of the most recognizable names in the American civil rights movement will be in Farrell on Tuesday to speak at an event focusing on issues of concern to the black community.

The Reverend Jesse Jackson will be a guest speaker at an NAACP GOTV engagement event, scheduled from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 22, at the Farrell City Hall Chambers, 500 Roemer Blvd.

Jackson will be joined by Farrell Mayor Kim Doss, who is a member of Black Mayors for Harris-Walz.

In addition to being an ardent civil rights activist, Reverend Jackson has been a presidential candidate and international hostage negotiator.

While a student at North Carolina Agricultural & Technical College in 1963, Jackson led protests to desegregate theaters and restaurants in Greensboro. He went to Selma, Alabama after "Bloody Sunday" in 1965, met Martin Luther King, Jr., and joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).

Jackson’s National Rainbow Coalition established in the mid-1980s brought together diverse people to advocate for human rights. Jackson eventually merged that organization with PUSH.

 In 1984 Jackson made an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination for the presidency. He ran and lost again in 1988.

Jackson intervened to gain the freedom of a Navy Pilot, hostages held in Kuwait, and prisoners of war held by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. For these and other efforts, President Bill Clinton awarded Jackson the Medal of Freedom, the highest honor given to civilians in the United States.