In 1966, King and Bevel selected Jackson to head the Chicago branch of the SCLC's economic arm, Operation Breadbasket and he was promoted to national director in 1967. Operation Breadbasket had been started by the Atlanta leadership of the SCLC as a job placement agency for blacks. Under Jackson's leadership, a key goal was to encourage massive boycotts by black consumers as a means to pressure white-owned businesses to hire blacks and to purchase goods and services from black-owned firms. Dr. T.R.M. Howard, a 1950s proponent of the consumer boycott tactic, soon became a major supporter of Jackson's efforts – donating and raising funds, and introducing Jackson to prominent members of the black business community in Chicago. Under Jackson's direction, Operation Breadbasket held popular weekly workshops on Chicago's south side featuring white and black political and economic leaders, and religious services complete with a jazz band and choir.
Jackson became involved in SCLC leadership disputes following the assassination of King on April 4, 1968. When King was shot, Jackson was in the parking lot one floor below.[2] Jackson told reporters he was the last person who speak to King, and that King died in his arms – an account that several King aides disputed.[2] In the wake of King's death, Jackson worked on SCLC's Poor People's Crusade in Washington, D.C., and was credited with managing its 15-acre tent city – but he began to increasingly clash with Ralph Abernathy, King's successor as chairman of the SCLC. In 1969, The New York Times reported that Jackson was being viewed as King's successor by several black leaders and that Jackson was one of the few black activists who was preaching racial reconciliation. Jackson was also reportedly seeking coalition with whites in order to turn racial problems into class problems, "When we change the race problem into a class fight between the haves and the have-nots, then we are going to have a new ball game", he said. The Times also indicated that Jackson was being criticized as too involved with middle class blacks, and for having an unattainable goal of racial unity.
In the spring of 1971, Abernathy ordered Jackson to move the national office of Operation Breadbasket from Chicago to Atlanta and sought to place another person in charge of local Chicago activities, but he refused to move. Jackson organized the October 1971 Black Expo in Chicago, a trade and business fair to promote black capitalism and grass roots political power. The five-day event was attended by black businessmen from 40 states, as well as politicians such as Cleveland Mayor Carl Stokes, and Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley. Daley's presence was seen as a testament to the growing political and economic power of blacks.
In December 1971, Jackson and Abernathy had a complete falling out, with the split described as part of a leadership struggle between Jackson, who had a national profile, and Abernathy, whose prominence in the civil rights movement was beginning to wane.[13] The break began when Abernathy questioned the handling of receipts from the Black Expo, and then suspended Jackson as leader of Operation Breadbasket for not obtaining permission to form non-profit corporations. Al Sharpton, who was then youth group leader of the SCLC, left the organization to protest Jackson's treatment and formed the National Youth Movement.ackson, his entire Breadbasket staff and 30 of the 35 board members resigned from the SCLC and began planning a new organization. Time magazine quoted Jackson as saying at that time that the traditional civil rights movement had lost its "offensive thrust."
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