Jesse Jackson to be given honorary degree at book festival

Civil rights leader the Reverend Jesse Jackson (pictured) is to receive an honorary degree from the University of Edinburgh at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Reverend Jackson worked for Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1960s.

During his later political career, he specialised in high-profile international diplomacy, negotiating with Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milošević among others.

In this keynote event Reverend Jackson will discuss a life of campaigning for black rights and human understanding.

Professor Christine Bell, professor of constitutional law, will confer the degree upon Reverend Jackson as part of his keynote event at the festival.

Audiences will have the chance to hear him speak about his life of campaigning for black rights.

The event is to be hosted in association with the University’s Global Justice Academy, of which Professor Bell is director.

The event is sold out.