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Furman alumni, historian quoted in The State about Rev. Jesse Jackson

Rev. Jesse Jackson greets audience members after a talk in McAlister Auditorium, Oct. 2013.

Last updated February 18, 2026

By Tina Underwood


A Black woman wears light purple and speaks at a podium in an outdoor plaza. A bronze statue is in the background. Lillian Brock Flemming

Lillian Brock Flemming ’71 M’75 H’14 speaks at the Joseph Vaughn Plaza in 2025.

In a story about the late Rev. Jesse Jackson who died Feb. 17, Lyn Riddle of The State turned to several sources for reaction, among them, longtime Greenville City Council Member Lillian Brock Flemming ’71 M’75 H’14, and Distinguished University Public Historian and Scholar Courtney Tollison ’99. On Facebook, Flemming wrote, “His legacy will be servant leader. Yes, he was famous, but he was famous for doing something for others.”

A white woman with long, dark hair wears purple and sits in a chair. Courtney Tollison

Courtney Tollison ’99, Distinguished University Public Historian and Scholar.

Tollison said she believes people were drawn to Jackson “because he was one of the last living links to the inner circle of the civil rights movement. As someone who worked closely with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and Rev. Ralph Abernathy, Jackson had intimate insight into the strategies of one of the world’s great movements for social justice.”

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