Booking Rev Al Sharpton

Rev Al Sharpton Biography

American civil rights activist Reverend Al Sharpton was born in 1954 in Brooklyn, New York. Sharpton briefly attended Brooklyn College in the mid 1970’s; although he didn’t graduate, he began his foray into politics at this time, serving as youth director for Shirley Chisholm’s presidential campaign. Throughout the 1970’s and into the early 1980’s Sharpton continued to involve himself in politics, focusing on causes related to civil rights and the black community.

In 1984, Al Sharpton rose to prominence as a critical voice in the Bernhard Goetz shooting incident, in which Mr. Goetz shot four black young men while riding a New York City subway, claiming that he feared they were about to rob him. Goetz was cleared on nearly all charges, and Rev. Al Sharpton led the charge in public protests against the legal outcome of the case. Two years later, he again led more than a thousand demonstrators through Howard Beach, New York, in protest of the death of a black man accidentally killed after being chased by a mob of white men. By the late 1980’s, Sharpton was seen as a voice for the black community whenever such incidents arose, and he continues in that role to this day.

In recent years, Rev. Al Sharpton has attempted a presidential run (in 2004), and he has become a trusted advisor to a number of leading political figures, including President Barack Obama. He can be seen today hosting MSNBC’s PoliticsNation and he makes frequent appearances on a number of talk shows and television forums. He also continues to oversee the National Action Network, an organization he founded in 1991 with the goal of providing assistance to disadvantaged citizens and those living in poverty.