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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Joe Sommerlad and Erin Keller

Jesse Jackson death latest: Trump praises civil rights hero’s ‘personality, grit, and street smarts’

Jesse Jackson Ashley Jackson Civil Rights Martin Luther King Jr Joe Sommerlad Martin Luther King Jacqueline the Rainbow PUSH Coalition

Civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson, an ally of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr who twice ran for the Democratic presidential nomination, has died at age 84.

“Our father was a servant leader – not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world,” his family said in a statement Tuesday.

The civil rights icon was honored by presidents, fellow activists, and Dr. King's family.

President Donald Trump praised Jackson’s “personality, grit, and street smarts” on Truth Social, remembering their long association. Bernice King, daughter of Dr. King, and Rev. Al Sharpton paid moving tributes, the latter calling his friend a “transformative leader.”

Former Vice President Kamala Harris wrote a lengthy tribute to Jackson. “He instilled in us that we were somebody," she wrote.

Jackson ran for president in 1984 and 1988, drawing support from Black voters and liberal whites but ultimately falling short to Ronald Reagan.

Jackson also founded the Chicago-based civil rights organizations Operation PUSH and the National Rainbow Coalition.

Key Points

  • Civil rights icon Jesse Jackson dies at 84, family says
  • Trump praises Jackson’s ‘personality, grit, and street smarts’
  • Obituary: The civil rights icon who built on mentor Martin Luther King Jr’s legacy and inspired a generation
  • How Jackson befriended Dr King
  • Remembered: Jackson’s tears as Barack Obama made history

Sharpton on Jackson: 'He made me believe even a kid on welfare...could be somebody'

17:15 , Erin Keller

At a New York press conference, Rev. Al Sharpton reflected on his long friendship Jackson, saying that Jackson inspired his activism and played a crucial role in sustaining the civil rights movement.

“I always wondered how much trauma that must have been for him to witness Rev. King’s assassination. He never would talk about it too much, but it drove him. He said ‘We’ve got to keep Dr. King’s legacy alive,’” Sharpton said.

“Everything he fought for is at risk, and if we want to mourn him we’ve got to preserve what he fought for,” he added.

Watch: Jesse Jackson's 1971 'Sesame Street' appearance

17:11 , Erin Keller

Clintons mourn longtime friend Jackson

16:47 , Erin Keller

“Reverend Jackson never stopped working for a better America with brighter tomorrows,” former President Bill Clinton said in a social media post, sharing a joint statement with his wife, Hillary, honoring their nearly 50-year friendship with Jackson.

Graham honors SC native Jackson

16:40 , Erin Keller

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) described Jackson in a social media post Tuesday as a "larger-than-life figure" who passionately advanced his causes and worked to help America reach its potential throughout a long, impactful life.

Schumer remembers Jackson as ‘fearless warrior’

16:26 , Erin Keller

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer remembered Jackson as a “fearless warrior” and global advocate for change, honoring his lifelong service and urging others to follow his example.

Buttigieg mourns Jackson as ‘a titan in the struggle for civil rights and racial justice’

16:08 , Erin Keller

Former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg paid tribute to Jackson in a social media post

Watch: Jackson’s 1971 ‘I am somebody’ chant on ‘Sesame Street’

16:03 , Erin Keller

In a 1971 episode of “Sesame Street,” titled “I Am Somebody,” Jackson led children in echoing his lines from his 1970 poem, emphasizing self-worth, respect and equality across races and backgrounds.

Illinois Gov. orders flags lowered to half-staff to honor Jackson

15:45 , Erin Keller

Governor of Illinois JB Pritzker ordered flags to be flown at half-mast to honor Jackson.

“May his memory be a blessing,” Pritzker said Tuesday on social media, sharing a photo of him with the late activist.

Parkinson’s Foundation offers condolences, resources

15:41 , Erin Keller

The Parkinson’s Foundation honored Jackson, who had lived for many years with progressive supranuclear palsy, a condition similar to Parkinson’s disease, the foundation said in a social media statement.

Formed in 2016 from two organizations, the foundation works globally to improve care, advance research and support people with Parkinson’s disease, their families and caregivers.

NAACP: Jackson 'challenged this nation to live up to its highest ideals'

15:26 , Erin Keller

The NAACP, the oldest and largest U.S. civil rights group, honored Jackson in a statement as a lifelong justice advocate and transformative leader, noting his 1960s activism, presidential runs and work for racial equality.

NAACP Chairman Leon W. Russell, Vice Chair Karen Boykin Towns, and President & CEO Derrick Johnson issued a joint statement saying:

"Reverend Jesse Jackson was not only a civil rights icon — he was family to the NAACP. His work advanced Black America at every turn. He challenged this nation to live up to its highest ideals, and he reminded our movement that hope is both a strategy and a responsibility. His historic run for president inspired millions and brought race to the forefront of American politics.

"We honor his legacy by continuing the work he championed: protecting the right to vote, expanding economic opportunity, and fighting for the freedom and dignity of Black people everywhere."

NAACP President Dennis Courtland Hayes (center), RainbowPUSH founder Rev. Jesse L. Jackson (2nd right), National Urban League President and CEO Mark Morial (3rd right) and others attend a rally outside the New York Stock Exchange calling for reform of mortgage lending practices on December 10, 2007 (Getty Images)

MLK Jr's family pays tribute

15:03 , Erin Keller

“We honor his extraordinary legacy and lifelong devotion to civil rights and human dignity. May his memory be a wellspring of strength and courage for all who continue the sacred work to which he gave his life,” Martin Luther King III and his wife Arndrea Waters King said about Jackson in a statement on social media.

In pictures: Jackson with famous faces

14:55 , Joe Sommerlad

Jesse Jackson’s long career in social activism brought him into contact with some of the world’s biggest personalities, from U.S. presidents (as we’ve seen) to everyone from Fidel Castro, Yasser Arafat and Mandela to Paul Simon.

(AP)
(AP)
(Reuters)
(Getty)

Kamala Harris reminisces on supporting Jackson as law student

14:53 , Erin Keller

Former Vice President Kamala Harris honored Jesse Jackson in a heartfelt social media post Tuesday, praising him for showing that “our voices mattered” and for inspiring generations by proving “we were somebody.”

She also reminisced about getting frequent “thumbs up” and honks of support while sporting a “Jesse Jackson for President” bumper sticker in law school.

“As a young law student, I would drive back and forth from Oakland, where I lived, to San Francisco, where I went to school. I had a bumper sticker in the back window of my car that read: ‘Jesse Jackson for President.’ As I would drive across the Bay Bridge, you would not believe how people from every walk of life would give me a thumbs up or honk of support. They were small interactions, but they exemplified Reverend Jackson’s life work — lifting up the dignity of working people, building community and coalitions, and strengthening our democracy and nation.”

“I was proud to partner with and learn from him on this work throughout my career, and I am so grateful for the time we spent together this January. Reverend Jackson was a selfless leader, mentor, and friend to me and so many others,” Harris continued.

Watch: Jackson receives thunderous applause at Democratic National Convention in 2024

14:35 , Joe Sommerlad

Watch: Jackson receives Medal of Freedom from Bill Clinton in 2000

14:15 , Joe Sommerlad

Jackson ‘never stopped demanding that America live up to its promise,’ says Mamdani

13:55 , Joe Sommerlad

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani had this to say in Jesse Jackson’s memory.

Trump praises Jackson’s ‘personality, grit, and street smarts’

13:35 , Joe Sommerlad

No sooner had I said that than the president posted the following tribute on Truth Social, which is largely complimentary while also underlining how much he “helped Jesse along the way.”

Trump writes:

“The Reverend Jesse Jackson is Dead at 84. I knew him well, long before becoming President. He was a good man, with lots of personality, grit, and ‘street smarts.’ He was very gregarious – Someone who truly loved people! Despite the fact that I am falsely and consistently called a Racist by the Scoundrels and Lunatics on the Radical Left, Democrats ALL, it was always my pleasure to help Jesse along the way. I provided office space for him and his Rainbow Coalition, for years, in the Trump Building at 40 Wall Street; Responded to his request for help in getting CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM passed and signed, when no other President would even try; Single handedly pushed and passed long term funding for Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs), which Jesse loved, but also, which other Presidents would not do; Responded to Jesse’s support for Opportunity Zones, the single most successful economic development package yet approved for Black business men/women, and much more. Jesse was a force of nature like few others before him. He had much to do with the Election, without acknowledgment or credit, of Barack Hussein Obama, a man who Jesse could not stand. He loved his family greatly, and to them I send my deepest sympathies and condolences. Jesse will be missed!”

Trump praised Jackson as ‘tough negotiator’

13:30 , Joe Sommerlad

We have yet to hear from the president on the civil rights leader’s passing but they have had a pretty mixed relationship in the past, with Jackson at one time speaking admiringly of Trump’s support for minority entrepreneurs and later warning against his divisive political rhetoric.

The president did have this to say about Jackson in 1998, which counts as huge praise given Trump’s view of the world.

In pictures: Jackson the campaigner

13:15 , Joe Sommerlad

Never afraid to stand up for what he believed was right, Jesse Jackson fought fiercely for change throughout his life.

Jesse Jackson speaks to a group of his supporters at a rally in Dayton, Ohio, on April 14, 1984 (AP)
Jackson, then a Democratic presidential candidate, gives his wife Jacqueline a warm embrace on stage in Los Angeles in May 1984 (AP)
Jackson speaking at the European Parliament in Strasbourg in May 1985, urging the U.S. not to intervene in Nicaragua (AFP/Getty)
Jackson being arrested in March 1993 after blocking 5th Avenue in New York City as part of a group protesting the detention of HIV positive Haitian political refugees (AFP/Getty)
Jackson with former South African president Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg in October 2005 (AP)

Bernice King pays tribute to Jackson

12:55 , Joe Sommerlad

MLK’s daughter pays her respects.

‘I was afraid to fail’: Jackson’s early life

12:40 , Joe Sommerlad

The future civil rights leader and minister was born Jesse Louis Burns on October 8, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina, to Helen Burns, 16, and Noah Louis Robinson, a 33-year-old married neighbor.

However, Jackson would not learn the identity of his biological father until he was seven years-old.

Later in his childhood, he took the last name of his stepfather, Charles Jackson, whom his mother married when he was an infant. Jackson considered both men to be his fathers.

Growing up in poverty in the Jim Crow era, facing societal judgment for being born out of wedlock and personal challenges with his biological father, Jackson learned to channel his fears into excellence.

“I was afraid to fail,” Jackson told The Chicago Tribune in 1996. “An all-around excellence in sports and academics, being a first-string athlete and an honor student, could protect you from feeling a certain form of rejection. People don’t laugh at you when you get A’s.”

From his early adolescence, Jackson was defined by his charisma and intelligence, being elected class president of Sterling High School and graduating with honors.

Jackson rejected an offer from a minor league baseball team and instead took a football scholarship at the University of Illinois. He later transferred to North Carolina A&T State University, where he got his start in student politics.

The young Jesse Jackson with Dr King in 1966 (AP)

Watch: Jesse Jackson’s most iconic speeches

12:25 , Joe Sommerlad

Here’s a look at some of Jackson’s finest public addresses.

Jesse Jackson’s most iconic speeches as civil rights icon dies aged 84

Al Sharpton: ‘My mentor has passed’

12:11 , Joe Sommerlad

Here’s a very moving tribute from the Rev. Al Sharpton, who knew Jackson for decades.

He writes on X:

“My mentor, Rev. Jesse Jackson, has passed. I just prayed with his family by phone. He was a consequential and transformative leader who changed this nation and the world. He shaped public policy and changed laws. He kept the dream alive and taught young children from broken homes, like me, that we don’t have broken spirits.”

Speaking about Jackson in 2017, Sharpton said:

“As I watched him, I thought about the greatness of this man. How he continued Martin Luther King’s movement for justice, how he cemented it in the north and made the King movement truly national.

“He changed the nation. He served in ways he never got credit. No one in our lifetime served longer and stronger. We pray for him, because he’s given his life for us.”

(Getty)

America wakes up to news of Jackson’s death

11:55 , Joe Sommerlad

It’s still very early in the U.S. and we can expect tributes to Jackson to come flooding in from the political establishment as the day progresses but here’s some initial remembrances of the great campaigner.

Jackson’s tears as Obama made history

11:40 , Joe Sommerlad

Another memorable moment in Jackson’s career came after he endorsed Barack Obama’s campaign and went on to see the young Democrat make history by become the first Black U.S. president in 2008.

Watching Obama’s acceptance speech in Grant Park, Chicago,, Jackson was seen with tears in his eyes.

“You know, I was crying. We saw on the screen that he had won. And I thought about the moment. The movement.

“Those who could not make it to Chicago. The people who made that night possible – they were not there. They couldn’t make it,” Jackson said of Obama’s winning night in conversation with Vanity Fair in 2020.

“I wish they could have been there. Dr. King and Medgar Evers and Fannie Lou Hamer. People who’d paid the supreme price,” he said.

“If God had let them live just 15 seconds more to see the fruits of their labor.”

Jesse Jackson cries at Barack Obama's victory speech on November 4, 2008 (YouTube)

How Jackson befriended Dr Martin Luther King

11:25 , Joe Sommerlad

While attending North Carolina A&T State University in 1960, Jesse Jackson became active in the institution’s burgeoning civil rights movement, joining his local Congress of Racial Equality chapter and taking a leadership role in organizing sit-ins.

Among these was a demonstration he organized on July 16, 1960, at the “whites only” Greenville County Public Library, which would later land Jackson and seven other Black students with the nickname the “Greenville Eight.”

As a result of that protest, the library closed down its segregated branches and later opened a single integrated one, attracting the attention of Dr King.

While studying theology at the Chicago Theological Seminary, Jackson was recruited by King to be an organizer with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the older man soon appointed him director of the Operation Breadbasket program, dedicated to improving the economic conditions of Black communities.

At 27, Jackson was a rising voice in the movement and considered by many as a contender to become MLK’s successor.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr stands with Hosea Williams, left, Jesse Jackson, second from left, and Ralph Abernathy, right, on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, a day before his assassination in the same location (AP)

But King’s assassination changed the future of the SCLC and Jackson’s position within it. Jackson was on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis when King was fatally shot on April 4, 1968, and remained haunted by the tragedy for the rest of his life.

“Every time I think about it, it’s like pulling a scab off a sore,” he said of the killing in a 2018 interview with The Guardian.

“It’s a hurtful, painful thought: that a man of love is killed by hate; that a man of peace should be killed by violence; a man who cared is killed by the careless.”

Jackson places a wreath at the grave of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, with the latter’s widow Coretta King looking on, in Atlanta, Georgia, on March 6, 1988 (Reuters)

In pictures: Jackson and the presidents

11:05 , Joe Sommerlad

Here are some shots of Rev. Jackson with several of the U.S. presidents he knew and worked with during his lifetime, from Jimmy Carter to Joe Biden.

Jackson with Jimmy Carter in 1979 (AP)
Jackson with Ronald Reagan in January 1984 (AP)
Jackson with Donald Trump in 1989, long before the real estate magnate had presidential ambitions (AFP/Getty)
Jackson with Bill Clinton in 1992 (AFP/Getty)
Jackson with Barack Obama in 2007 (AP)
Jackson with George W Bush in 2014 (LBJ Library)
Jackson with Joe Biden in Selma, Alabama, for a historic anniversary in 2023 (AFP/Getty)

Obituary: The civil rights icon who built on mentor Martin Luther King Jr’s legacy and inspired a generation

10:45 , Joe Sommerlad

Here’s Ariana Baio with a look back at Jackson’s extraordinary life.

Jesse Jackson: Martin Luther King Jr’s protege who dedicated his life to civil rights

‘His unwavering commitment to justice, equality, and human rights helped shape a global movement for freedom and dignity’

10:41 , Joe Sommerlad

Here’s the Jackson family’s statement in full:

“It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Civil Rights leader and founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the Honorable Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr.

“He died peacefully on Tuesday morning, surrounded by his family.

“His unwavering commitment to justice, equality, and human rights helped shape a global movement for freedom and dignity. A tireless change agent, he elevated the voices of the voiceless from his presidential campaigns in the 1980s to mobilising millions to register to vote – leaving an indelible mark on history.

“Reverend Jackson is survived by his wife, Jacqueline; their children – Santita, Jesse Jr, Jonathan, Yusef, Jacqueline; daughter Ashley Jackson, and grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his mother, Helen Burns Jackson; father, Noah Louis Robinson; and stepfather, Charles Henry Jackson.

“Our father was a servant leader – not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world. We shared him with the world, and in return, the world became part of our extended family. His unwavering belief in justice, equality, and love uplifted millions, and we ask you to honour his memory by continuing the fight for the values he lived by.

“Public observances will be held in Chicago. Final arrangements for Reverend Jackson's celebration of life services, including all public events, will be released by the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.”

Civil rights icon Jesse Jackson dies at 84

10:35 , Joe Sommerlad

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, the legendary civil rights activist and two-time presidential candidate, has passed away Tuesday aged 84, his family has said in a statement.

A cause of death was not immediately given but Jackson’s family said he died peacefully surrounded by loved ones.

Here’s our breaking report from Craig Hoyle.

Civil rights icon Jesse Jackson dies aged 84

Hello and welcome

10:30 , Joe Sommerlad

Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of the sad passing of civil rights icon Jesse Jackson, who has died at the age of 84, his family has announced.

Tributes are already flooding in for Jackson, an ally of Dr Martin Luther King in the 1960s and a tireless champion of the marginalized in the United States.

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