- Source of Wealth: Ministry, Activism
- Age: 65
- Birth Place: Brooklyn, New York
- Marital Status: Married (Kathy Jordan)
- Full Name: Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr.
- Nationality: African American
- Date of Birth: October 3, 1954
- Ethnicity: Native American (Cherokee)
- Occupation: American civil rights activist, Baptist minister
- Education: Brooklyn College, amuel J. Tilden High School
- Children: 2 (Dominique, Ashley)
Born Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. on October 3, 1954 in Brooklyn, New York, he is of Native American descent especially Cherokee. He grew up in the Brownsville neighborhood. He preached his first sermon at the age of four and toured with gospel singer Mahalia Jackson. He became a licensed and ordained Pentecostal minister by Bishop F.D. Washington at the age of nine. He graduated from Samuel J. Tilden High School in Brooklyn. He attended Brooklyn College but he dropped out after two years in 1975. In 1973, he became a tour manager for James Brown. After the Death of Bishop Washington in the 1980s, he became a Baptist. He was re-baptized by Reverend William Jones as a member of the Bethany Baptist Church in 1994 and he became a Baptist Minister.
Sharpton was appointed by Jesse Jackson as youth director of Operation Breadbasket in 1969. It is a group that focused on the promotion of new and better jobs for African-Americans. He founded the National Youth Movement to raise resources for impoverished youth in 1971. He has received positive words from his supporters and has a bunch of critics. He sees much of the criticism as a sign of his effectiveness.
Al Sharpton met his wife, Kathy Jordan who is a backup singer, while touring with Brown in 1971. They got married in 1980 and they have two children. They go separated in 2004. He is an honorary member of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.