This day in history: Jesse Jackson says senator’s ‘lack of concern for Black people’ will hurt his bid for president. Burnt-out forest soon to be replanted

From 1976: The Rev. Jesse Jackson gave a speech at Eastern Washington State College and berated another man named Jackson.

That would be Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson, a leading Democratic presidential candidate.

Jesse Jackson said the senator’s insensitivity to Black people will hurt him in his presidential bid. He said Washington’s senator was trying to “compensate in his campaign for his lack of concern for Black people in Washington state.”

He said Sen. Jackson was not likely to get the Black vote, and that “the hands that picked cotton in 1966 will choose the president in 1976.”

Jackson was speaking as part of Eastern Washington State College’s Black Week.

From 1926: Scores of men were being recruited for a gigantic project in the Coeur d’Alene and Cabinet national forests.

They were getting ready to replant thousands of acres for burned-out forests. The nursery at Haugen, Montana, just over Lookout Pass, “has a supply of 10 million young trees on hand.”

The senior ranger of the St. Joe National Forest visited the Spokane Chamber of Commerce to drum up support for this and other reforestation projects.

“The sad part of it is that these trees will not be ready for commercial use for 60 to 100 years,” he said. “For that reason, it has been hard to interest people in reforestation, which is as important a thing as fire prevention.”

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

2010: Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes, killing 11 and causing the rig to sink, creating a massive oil discharge into the Gulf of Mexico.