Alfred Charles “Al” Sharpton Jr. was born on 3 October 1954 in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.
He is an American Baptist minister, civil rights and social justice activist, radio and television talk-show host, and the founder and president of the National Action Network.
He is the son of Alfred Charles Sharpton Sr., a carpenter and contractor, and Ada Essie Richards Sharpton.
He began preaching as a young child, was ordained as a Pentecostal minister in his early teens, and later became a Baptist minister.
He attended Samuel J. Tilden High School and briefly studied at Brooklyn College. He has two daughters, Ashley and Dominique, from his marriage to Kathy Jordan.
Siblings
Al Sharpton has half-siblings. His mother had children from a previous marriage, including an older half-sister often identified as Tina.
In the early 1960s his father left the family and began a relationship with that half-sister; their son, Kenneth Sharpton-Glasgow, is Sharpton’s younger half-brother.
Kenneth has worked as a pastor and voting-rights advocate in Alabama.
Career
Sharpton entered activism early, serving as youth director of Operation Breadbasket under Jesse Jackson in 1969 and later founding the National Youth Movement.
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In the 1970s he worked as a tour manager for singer James Brown.
He founded the National Action Network in 1991 and has led it ever since, organizing protests, marches and campaigns focused on racial justice, police accountability and economic opportunity.
He has been involved in high-profile cases and demonstrations throughout his career.
In media he hosts the nationally syndicated radio program Keepin’ It Real and has long hosted or appeared on the MSNBC/MS NOW program PoliticsNation.
He ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and remains a visible commentator on civil-rights and political issues.
Accolades
Al Sharpton has received recognition for decades of civil-rights work, including the Justice Icon Award from theGrio Awards and the Legacy in Civil Rights and Media Award from the New York Association of Black Journalists.
He has been awarded multiple honorary doctorates from institutions such as Bethune-Cookman University, Fisk University and Medgar Evers College.
The National Action Network’s annual Triumph Awards often celebrate figures in culture and justice while also marking milestones in his own career, and he is frequently described by supporters and public figures as a leading contemporary voice in the civil-rights tradition.
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