Rev. Frederick D. Haynes III was well-known in Dallas long before he emerged on the national stage as Rev. Jesse Jackson’s successor to lead the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
Jackson, a civil rights activist and former presidential candidate, retired last week, putting Haynes in the spotlight, as reported by The Dallas Express.
But just who is Haynes, and why was he chosen as Jackson’s replacement?
The 62-year-old pastor at Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas has been a longtime admirer of Jackson’s.
“Jesse Jackson has been for us, and continues to be for us, a North Star for freedom and justice,” Haynes said, according to ABC 7 WLS.
In an interview with the news outlet, Haynes added, “I have spoken a number of times for the Rainbow PUSH Convention, and that was enough for me. And then when he made the phone call and asked to consider succeeding him… that’s just over the top.”
Haynes said he would continue to pursue Jackson’s political agenda.
“The ground game will be to pick up where the reverend left off: a massive voter registration campaign,” Haynes said.
The church’s outreach program was created during his tenure. It adopted a church in Zimbabwe, committing to build a worship center, school, and daycare. In 2003, Friendship-West started a hunger relief program that assisted more than 150 families in the African nation.
In Dallas, Haynes is an advocate for education. His church donated more than $2 million in scholarship money to local students while sending more than $1 million to historically black colleges and universities. He is on the board of directors at Paul Quinn College in Dallas. In 2023, President Joe Biden awarded Haynes the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Leadership Award in Community Service.
One of the pastor’s passions has been reform in the payday-lending industry. Haynes, who has a BA in religion and English from Bishop College in Dallas, a Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Doctorate in Ministry from the Graduate Theological Foundation, spoke to a congressional subcommittee about predatory lenders in 2019.
“One of my congregants, a recent college graduate, worked two jobs to make ends meet. When his mother became sick, he had to choose between paying his car loan and her medication and utilities,” Haynes testified. “He took out a payday loan believing it would help him get through the crunch, but an interest rate of 450% set him up to bring him down financially, and he ended up losing the car he needed to get to work.”
In 2021, Dallas ISD opened a secondary school named after Haynes, the Dr. Frederick D. Haynes III Global Preparatory Academy at Paul Quinn College.
“Our kids who thought they couldn’t go to college will be able to earn up to 40 credit hours and transition right into Paul Quinn College or any college of their choice,” Dallas ISD Trustee Maxie Johnson said of the school in 2021. “When you look at the work of Dr. Haynes and all that he is doing in the city of Dallas and the nation, he is deserving of this honor.”
Arthur Fleming, a former Dallas NAACP president, said Haynes will do well in his new role.
“I think it’s a great hire for the Rainbow Coalition,” Fleming said, according to CBS Texas News.
Haynes said he would continue to live in Dallas. The Rainbow PUSH Coalition headquarters will remain in Chicago. Haynes and his wife, Debra Peek-Haynes, have one daughter, Abeni Jewel Haynes.
