Jesse Jackson Lecture Series

On 1st December 2008, Edge Hill University's Centre for Local Policy launched the Reverend Jesse Jackson Lecture Series and Scholarship, with a lecture by the American Civil Rights leader himself.

The lecture series reflects the University's commitment to a debate on human rights and economic equality marked by the significant knowledge transfer and research activity carried out by the Centre for Local Policy Studies around ethnic equality in the labour market. The Centre shares strong links with Equanomics UK, a third sector organisation committed to addressing race equality from an economic perspective who work in collaboration with their US partner organisation, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition of which Reverend Jackson is founder and president. The series was established in honour of Reverend Jackson's visit to Edge Hill University and his continuing work in the field.

The lecture series serves to set out an agenda for the development of economic and labour rights as a precondition for the fulfillment of civil rights. In the UK, race crime remains a dominant issue, with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service declaring reports of 4314 charges of race crimes across the country in 2009-2010.

While the Reverend Jesse Jackson Lecture Series reinforces Edge Hill University’s commitment to equality and social inclusion, it also draws attention to the work that remains to be carried out by society in general in order to produce a truly equal, just and fair society for all.