In 1984, Jesse Jackson became the first Black candidate to win a presidential primary contest and qualify for the ballot in all 50 states.

Campaigning under the slogan “Now Is The Time,” Jackson won more than three million votes and four contests in the Democratic primary.

Four years later, he placed second for the nomination, winning 11 contests and more than seven million votes—the best showing for a Black presidential candidate until Barack Obama’s victory in 2008.

Addressing the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta, Georgia, that summer, Jackson closed his remarks with the declaration, “Keep hope alive.”