Sharpton, Al (1954-…), is an American clergyman, political activist, and television and radio talk show host. He has been a center of attention and sometimes controversy during his career as he has led protests and marches and served as a spokesperson for issues that particularly affect African Americans. Sharpton campaigned for, but did not win, the 2004 Democratic nomination for president of the United States.
Alfred Charles Sharpton, Jr., was born on Oct. 3, 1954, in the Brooklyn section of New York City. He was ordained as a Pentecostal minister at the age of 10. From 1969 to 1971, he was the youth director of the New York chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s Operation Breadbasket. The group organized boycotts of retailers who they claimed conducted business unfairly in predominantly African American neighborhoods. In 1971, Sharpton founded the National Youth Movement, which focused on fighting drug abuse in African American neighborhoods. He headed the organization until 1986. In 1991, Sharpton founded the civil rights organization National Action Network, Inc., and continues to serve as its president.
Sharpton ran for a New York seat in the U.S. Senate in 1992, but he lost the election. He ran again in 1994 and was defeated. In 1997, Sharpton campaigned for, but did not win, the Democratic nomination for mayor of New York City. His autobiography, Go and Tell Pharaoh, was published in 1996. In 2006, he began hosting the radio talk show “Keeping it Real with Al Sharpton.” In 2011, Sharpton became the host of the TV political talk show “Politics Nation.” Sharpton has also written the books The Rejected Stone: Al Sharpton and the Path to American Leadership (2013); Rise Up: Confronting a Country at the Crossroads (2020); and Righteous Troublemakers: Untold Stories of the Social Justice Movement in America (2022).
